Study: Rent Prices In LA, OC Counties To Increase Over 8 Percent
SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) — Rents in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, already considered to be rather pricey, are expected to become more expensive.
Rents in both counties, as well as in the Inland Empire, are expected to increase more than 8 percent over the next two years, according to a study by USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
The anticipated increase is due to the demand for rentals outpacing the completion of new units.
In Los Angeles County, rents are specifically expected to increase 8.2 percent, to an average of $1,860 per month.
Orange County, meanwhile, is expected to see an increase of 8.6 percent, reaching a new average of $1,810 per month.
The anticipated increase of the price of renting in the Inland Empire is at 9.9 percent, marking an average of $1,250 per month.
Others say the study may actually be sugar coating the expected increase, and suggest rents will be even more expensive.
"It's a little conservative," WestSideRentals.com president Kevin Miller said. "I would actually say around the beach cities, it's going to be about fifteen percent (increase), and a little farther inland, ten percent."
Rents are highest in Santa Monica, according to the study, due to the tech-center boom in the area.
"We have three bedrooms, fifteen hundred square feet, (and we are paying) a little over six (thousand per month)," Santa Monica resident Darcie Hazelton, who moved from Manhattan, said. "We were used to a city where we could walk everywhere, and I didn't want to give that up."
Experts say the study is the latest in the current housing affordability crisis, caused by flat incomes mixed with rising rents and low supplies.
