DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Apartment hunters who think that it is getting more expensive to live in Downtown now know it’s not their imagination: Central City rents rose 4.8% between the second quarter of 2012 and the same time in 2013, according to the new USC Casden Forecast/2013 Multifamily Report.
The report, released this morning, found that the hike was the second highest increase in the 37 submarkets it covers in Los Angeles County. The average rent in Downtown, according to the report, is now $1,862.
The price hikes correspond to a tighter market, with a 9.7% vacancy rate in Downtown in early 2009 tumbling to 4.4% by the second quarter of this year.
The Downtown numbers largely mirror trends across Southern California, according to the study. The report also predicts that current conditions will continue, with apartment vacancy rates falling 10% across Los Angeles County over the next year, and rents ticking upwards by 1.8% through 2014 and climbing another 3.8% the following year.
The report comes in the wake of the Downtown Demographic Study conducted by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. That report, which noted that 71% of Downtowners rent, also said that more than 5,000 housing units are under construction in the Central City.