It's probably no surprise to renters that the average annual rent in Los Angeles County has increased for four years in a row, and yet it still hurts to see it in print. Thanks to the 2014 USC Casden Multifamily Forecast, just out from USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate, we've got way more sad facts to throw around too. In the second quarter of this year, the average rent in LA County was $1,716, nearly four percent higher than the average rent in the second quarter of 2013, for "the highest annual rent growth in the County in four years." Santa Monica/Marina del Rey topped the list for most expensive average rent ($2,618); the Antelope Valley was the cheapest place in the county, with rents averaging about $829. (We'll have more on specific neighborhoods soon.)
The study also predicts that rents will continue to rise every quarter for the next two years, and that they'll be up 8.2 percent by the second quarter of 2016, to$1,856 a month.