January 19, 2006

Socal Apartment Rents

According to RealFacts, Inc. Rental rates increased throughout most of the West last year and that is an obvious sign that landlords were slowly regaining some pricing leverage.

All but two of the 20 major markets in the Western U.S. survey by the real estate research firm ended 2005 with higher apartment rents than in the previous year.

The biggest increases were concentrated in Southern California, where the regional economies generally have been stronger than other parts of the West.

Apartment rents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties climbed 7.3% during the year to an average of $1,086 a month. That was the West's largest annual rent increase of any county. However, the Inland Empire may be showing some weakness as average occupancy rates in the two county region drop to 91.6% last year from 95.3% in 2004. The downturn in occupancy could force local landlords to back off the steady rate increases that had been ongoing for several years.

The Orange County / Los Angeles, markets reflected the highest average rent at $1,459 a month, a 6.6% increase over 2004.