The Sun Valley Area council area shows 605 ADU permits issued since 2020, 17th of 236. It is in Council District 2.
Permits per year
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permits issued | 80 | 103 | 134 | 121 | 97 | 29 | 41 |
Counts grew from 80 in 2020 to 134 in 2022, then fell to 121 and 97 in the next two years. The 2025 total is 29, and 2026 is at 41 so far. We report those counts as they appear in the data and do not know the reason for the drop.
Type table
| ADU kind | Permits | Median size (sq ft) | Median value on permit | Median $ per sq ft | Median days to issue | Median days to CofO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New detached or new construction | 183 | 1,071 | $120,000 | $109 | 249 | 445 |
| Garage or space conversion | 322 | 615 | $53,000 | $88 | 128 | 412 |
| JADU | 69 | 378 | $35,000 | $97 | 172 | 329 |
| All ADU permits | 605 | 750 | $75,000 | $101 | 171 | 412 |
Observations
Sun Valley Area has a higher median declared valuation than the city: $75,000 across all permits against $60,000, with a median size of 750 square feet against 558. The per-square-foot figure is $101, a little below the citywide $105. The higher total goes with larger units; value per square foot is slightly lower.
Conversions are 322 of 605 permits (about 53 percent), declared at $53,000 for 615 square feet, which is larger than the citywide conversion median of 496 square feet. New construction has 183 permits at $120,000 and 1,071 square feet. JADUs add 69 permits at $35,000 and 378 square feet. For a side-by-side of the three routes, see ADU vs JADU vs garage conversion.
Permitting is run by LADBS, and the permit process page walks through it. The hillside share is 0 percent in the data. If the parcel has slope or brush nearby, the fire hazard zone guide is the next read.
Citywide medians for comparison
For reference, here are the medians for all of Los Angeles: $60,000 declared, 558 square feet, $105 per square foot, 154 days from submission to issue and 368 days from issue to CofO. Citywide new construction is $120,000 and 813 square feet; conversions $50,000 and 496 square feet; JADUs $35,000 and 400 square feet.
In the Sun Valley Area the median permit takes 171 days to issue (17 more than citywide) and 412 days from issue to CofO (44 more). New construction takes 249 days to permit against 213.
Certificates of occupancy are on record for 434 of the 605 permits, about 72 percent, while the citywide share is about 63 percent (26,170 of 41,450). Since the CofO medians only cover completed projects, they say little about permits issued recently.
Where to go from here
Cost planning continues on the Los Angeles ADU cost page, and scheduling on the ADU timeline page. Before choosing who builds it, work through the builder hiring and CSLB license guide.
Source and method
Source: LADBS, "Building Permits Issued 2020 to Present" (data.lacity.org dataset pi9x-tg5x; City of Los Angeles only). Analysis is ours, and dated November 2026.
About the figures. A permit counts as an ADU here if its ADU flags or description say so; supplemental permits are not counted. The valuation shown is what the applicant declared. It is not the full project cost, since design, fees, utilities and finishes often come on top. Day counts are medians among permits that reached the step, and 2026 is a part-year total.
