KB Home Latest Company to Leave Los Angeles

California’s business-averse environment has now pushed away one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, which joins the growing list of corporations vacating the state.

KB Home will move its corporate headquarters next spring from Los Angeles to Hayden Ferry Lakeside in Tempe, Ariz., in the greater Phoenix metro area. The company said the move will lower its cost structure over time thanks to the “business-friendly operating environment” in Phoenix.

“It positions KB Home to operate more effectively and supports the next phase of our growth,” Robert McGibney, president and CEO of KB Home, said in a statement.

The exodus of companies across seemingly every industry has continued since the pandemic hit six years ago. That includes many real estate developers. Multifamily development in L.A. has slowed significantly as rising costs, strict regulations and added transfer taxes push investors and developers to other markets. Developers are increasingly shifting capital to Sun Belt markets, citing stronger population growth and fewer barriers.

Indeed, renters and homebuyers are leaving, too. L.A. County lost roughly 54,000 residents just in the past year as high housing costs, declining immigration and domestic outmigration weigh on growth.

KB Home, based at One Westwood at 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, said it will continue to maintain a significant presence in California through its six operating divisions. Over the years, the company has built tens of thousands of homes across the state and says it remains deeply committed to serving California homebuyers.

The late Eli Broad, who became one the top civic leaders and philanthropists in L.A., co-founded KB Home in Detroit in 1956, and he eventually moved the company to the West Coast in the mid-1960s. KB Home has built more than 700,000 homes in its 70-year history.

Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.