Just when it looked like financially strapped Angelenos might finally put the years-long economic recession behind them and stash a little cash in the bank, a study released Tuesday shattered that possibility for renters, anyway, indicating that rents are about to skyrocket.
The silver lining, however, is that landlords will be flush with cash, and can look into buying boats or what not.
Rent in Los Angeles is going to go from bad to worse, according to a new report.
The average rent in Los Angeles County right now is $1,716, and they're expected to climb to $1,856 a month by mid-2016, according to a new report from USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. That’s a growth rate of 8.2 percent, compared with 3 to 4 percent over the past 12 months.
Apartment rental prices in Los Angeles are expected to rise over 8% over the next two years, according to a study conducted by USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. The study estimates that rent prices will increase 8.2% in Los Angeles County by mid-2016, at an average of $1,856 a month.
It’s worse in Orange County, where the estimate projects an 8.6% rise with an average price of $1,806, and even worse in the Inland Empire, with a 9.9% jump and an average rental price of $1,246 a month.
Los Angeles already has the most unaffordable housing market in the United States, so you'd expect that maybe some relief was due.
Not going to happen. The USC Casden Multifamily Forecast this week revealed its projections for the next two years. The report says we should expect an 8.2 percent increase in rents by June 2016.
But wait, it gets even better:
Vacancy rates will get worse, decreasing 6 percent by June 2015 and going down another 6.8 percent by June 2016, according to the forecast.
What gives?
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.
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 Los Angeles County, the vacancy rate dropped 10.8 percent in the one-year period ending in June, to just 3.3 percent. But that was nothing compared to the the recession-battered Inland Empire, where the number of available rental units plummeted by 30 percent, to a 3.8 percent vacancy rate, according to the 2014 USC Casden Multifamily Forecast from USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
A new study from USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate projects that rents will climb 8.2% in Los Angeles County by mid-2016, to $1,856 a month, on average. In Orange County, the prediction is 8.6% growth, to $1,806. And in the Inland Empire, the study forecasts 9.9% rent growth to $1,246 a month.
If those forecasts pan out, rents would grow over the next two years faster than the 3% to 4% clip seen in the last 12 months. Vacancy rates are expected to decline a bit even as more new apartment buildings open.
This year, for the first time, the Chinese surpassed Canadians as the top investors in American residential real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, during the 12-month period that ended in March, investors from China (Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong combined) invested $22 billion into the U.S. housing market. Canadians, the perennial leader in foreign investment, spent about $13.8 billion.
Developers in the U.S. are building projects with multiple uses -- particularly in cities such as Seattle with strong employment -- as they seek to balance rising demand for urban offices with strong apartment and travel markets. By providing a one-stop place to work, live and shop, they are focusing on sites that may attract companies targeting younger employees who want a short commute and the flexibility of renting.