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.
The study is just the latest to reflect a growing housing affordability crisis, sparked by rising rents, sluggish incomes and relatively tight supply. By some measures, L.A. is the least affordable rental market in the country.
“Though the economy and employment have improved, renters’ incomes are stagnant,” said Richard Green, who directs the Lusk Center. “So while net absorption and occupancy rates are moving in the right direction, affordability continues to worsen.”