By Miranda Ceja
ORANGE COUNTY, CA — If you are renting an apartment in Orange County, it may start to get more expensive. A USC Casden Economics Forecast released Tuesday predicted sharp increases in rent across the whole of southern California, with Orange County renters seeing an average monthly spike of $410 over the next two years.
"COVID-19 caused a large-scale move from central cities to the suburbs that resulted in a sharp rise in apartment vacancies in Downtown L.A., Koreatown and Beverly Hills and historically low vacancies in Rancho Cucamonga, North City San Diego and Oxnard," USC Lusk Center for Real Estate Director Richard Green, co-author of the forecast, said in a statement. "While vacancies are coming back down in urban areas, the outskirts remain low and supply and will see rents go up at a much higher rate than the cities."
The overall Orange County average rent is predicted to rise from the current $2,439 to $2,849, with the vacancy rate rising from 2.1 percent to 3.7 percent.
According to the study, the one year average forecasted rent growth in the La Habra and North Orange County area is 3.1 percent. In west Anaheim and Orange Central, a 3.7 percent growth is anticipated. In Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and other coastal cities, rent is predicted to rise by 4.4 percent. In Irvine and parts of south and east Orange County, rent may spike as much as 6.2 percent.
Throughout southern California, suburban areas may see rises in rent. The forecast predicts that by the end of the third quarter in 2023, rents will increase by $252 over the current level in Los Angeles County, $410 in Orange County, $348 in San Diego County, $310 in Ventura County and $241 in the Inland Empire, including Riverside and San Bernardino.
The original article can be found here.