October 21, 2006
While developers have started building a fresh stock of apartments in Los Angeles County, builders have already finished complexes in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economic Forecast at USC. "Because house prices are high and interest rates are high, the monthly payment for homes is substantially higher than rent," she said "(Homebuyers) right now are sitting on the sidelines," and renting while they wait out the housing price dip, she said.