Southern California residential rents are likely to rise for two years as home prices climb and apartments remain in short supply, according to a study coauthored by the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate and the California Association of Realtors (CAR).
In the second quarter of this year, San Diego County had the lowest vacancy rate at 2.3 percent, a 37.1 percent decrease from the previous year.
It was followed by Los Angeles County at 3.2 percent vacancy (down 10.6 percent), Orange County at 3.2 percent (down 12.4 percent) and the Inland Empire at 3.6 percent (down 17.3 percent), according to the 2013 USC Casden Multifamily Forecast, released Tuesday.
While average rents increased in all four markets, Los Angeles County, where renters pay an average of $1,435, had the largest rate of increase at 2.86 percent.
The area's most expensive rental market, Orange County, increased 2.8 percent to $1,572.
San Diego County rents increased 2.75 percent to $1,388, while the Inland Empire increased 1.9 percent to $1,059.
A shortage of apartments has contributed to rising rents.
In Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, and the Inland Empire, about 6,700 new apartment units were completed in the year through June 30, while 11,900 units were rented in the same period, the study showed.
"Over the next two years, the growth rate for rents will be slower for Los Angeles and Orange County and slightly higher for the Inland Empire and San Diego.
"Vacancy rates will decrease across all four markets, however it will decrease at a slightly slower rate in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and San Diego, and at a higher rate in Orange County," Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center, predicted.
While rents are rising in the region, the increase in home prices is outpacing them.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condominiums sold last month in Southern California was $385,000, up 25 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
The median price, unchanged for three months, is the highest since April 2008, the research firm said.
"Despite marked improvements in employment and the overall economy, the rapid increase in home priciest and interest rates are pricing first-time home buyers out of the local market," Green said Tuesday.
"As more and more of these households become renters instead of buyers, we will continue to see fewer vacancies and higher rents."