In its most recent fair market rent report, the Department of Housing and Urban Development lists reasonable rent in Long Beach/Los Angeles to be $843 for a studio, $1,016 for one bedroom $1,269 for two bedrooms, $1,704 for three and $2,051 for four. The Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast earlier this year found average rent in Long Beach was $1,127 for a one-bedroom unit, $1,373 for two bedrooms and $1,425 for three. According to Delores Conway, director of the Casden Forecast at USC, the recent cooling of the home-buying market has tightened an already tough rental market that has a vacancy rate of 2.8 percent. "The search (for apartments) is getting very difficult," Conway said. The local rental market was further constricted by the wave of condominium conversions that occurred during the housing boom, when rental apartments were turned into private homes, Conway said.
November 16, 2006