Apartment Rents Tick Up in LA So Far This Year

Los Angeles apartment rents, which fell for four months at the end of last year, have rebounded.

Average asking rents in Los Angeles rose 0.4 percent on a per-square-foot basis in February, following 0.2 percent growth in January, reversing the four-month decline, CoStar News reported.

Nationally, rents rose for three consecutive months since late last year. In February, they were up 0.8 percent year-over-year, and 0.3 percent from January.

The turnaround for rents in Los Angeles was attributed to rent give-aways. Spurred by modest renter demand, local property managers relied more heavily in recent months on concessions, according to CoStar.

Some 27 percent of multifamily properties with more than 25 units offered concessions last month — the city’s highest percentage since the first half of 2021.

The highest rent growth in Los Angeles occurred in neighborhoods with below-average rents, below-average vacancy and sluggish development, according to CoStar.

Apartment rents in North Hills/Panorama City and South Los Angeles grew between 2 percent and 2.5 percent, with vacancies between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent — well below average in Los Angeles County. Both regions have had modest construction for decades.

At the same time, rents in Downtown Los Angeles fell 2.5 percent, with a vacancy of 10 percent, the highest in the county. Over the past 12 months, the area had more than 2,000 new apartments.

CoStar expected Los Angeles to see rent growth accelerate this year, with apartment vacancy expected to fall this summer, and anticipated renter demand better matching “supply additions” compared to last year.

In Orange County, overall rents rose 2.2 percent last year, while falling 2.6 percent across L.A. County, according to Apartment List.

A University of Southern California study in December predicted apartment rents across Southern California would rise up to 4 percent through 2025, with a slightly above-average rent increase in Orange County, where the typical asking rent would hit a record $2,800 a month.

— Dana Bartholomew