RENTALLY DERANGED-The cost of living, and especially renting, in Los Angeles continues to skyrocket and will continue to for the foreseeable future.
A new third quarter rental market report by Marcus & Millichap confirms that rents are climbing all over town: asking rents citywide were up 7.8 percent to an average of $1,873 per month. For the year, the report predicts rents will climb 4.8 percent overall, "more than doubling the rate of inflation."
It seems no one is immune to these rapid rent increases. Even renters seeking the traditionally cheaper cost of living in the San Fernando Valley are out of luck. The past 12 months saw a 7.4 percent increase in asking rent price up in the Valley. Van Nuys/Northeast Valley prices were up 15.1 percent! No offense, but when Van Nuys rent increases are outpacing every other neighborhood in town, LA's rental market might officially be out of control.
Meanwhile, the price of a single-family house has jumped 5.2 percent this year, while median incomes only increased by 2.9 percent, barely outpacing the national average. As the report says: "Many residents will be lifelong renters because of high home prices, providing safety and stability to developer forecasts." (Yeah, your inability to ever buy a home is making developers very happy!)
Unsurprisingly, apartment vacancy rates have fallen to just 2.7 percent, even in hot development neighborhoods like Downtown LA.
In the past year, more than 5,200 new rentals have come online in LA, and 2,700 of those were in Downtown. There are now more than 15,000 units "under construction through 2017," and every section of town "will receive more than 1,000 units in 2016." (Read more here.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 92
Pub: Nov 13, 2015
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