Los Angeles Area 2017 Rent Retrospect

The average rent in the city of Los Angeles at the end of the year was $2,284 /month, 4.3% more than in December 2016. The LA area overall has posted a similar year-over-year growth rate, at precisely 4% higher than the year-ago figure, reaching $2,146. Meanwhile, the national average rent is $1,359—2.5% higher than it was at the end of 2016.

Over the past 3 years, the average rent in LA increased by $395 or 20.9% and by about the same proportions in the area overall, a 20.5% increase meaning an additional $365 per month. The national-level average rent at the same time has increased by 12% since December 2014, according to Yardi Matrix apartment data. Average rent prices both in LA and the rest of the area overall have both been increasing steadily, and consistently faster than the national average. The gap between the national average rent and LA are rents has widened from $564 in December 2014 to $787 at the end of 2017, and from $672 to $925 when comparing it to the main city’s rent prices in the same period.

Eastern suburbs post outstanding rent growth, LA proper remains under 5%

The LA area is, to some degree, following the general trend seen across the nation’s largest metros—cores are gradually cooling down in terms of rent growth, and the peripheral neighborhoods are experiencing steeper increases. Although the 4.3% increase does not normally spell stagnation, in relative terms it is indeed far behind many of the area’s smaller, outer cities like Monrovia’s whopping 15.1% growth rate. It is however still a much faster rate than Pasadena’s 1.7%, Long Beach’s 1. 9% or even the 3.2% hike in average rents that Oxnard experienced in 2017.

As mentioned above, Monrovia led the pack in relative terms posting a 15.1% increase, but it is also the suburb that has seen the largest rent increase in dollar amount. Rents in Monrovia are now, on average, $284 more expensive than they were a year ago. West Hollywood and Diamond Bar are the only other cities in the area that have seen their rents increase by more than $200 last year, with $217 and $214, respectively. This has earned Diamond Bar the second place by growth rate in the area with 11.3%, and for West Hollywood it was “only” enough for rank 8 being just 8.2% higher than last December’s rent, given the already spicy rents in the area. The average rent in West Hollywood has now reached an eyewatering $2,878, which is still one of the the highest in the LA area.

Top 5 most expensive and cheapest places to rent in the Los Angeles area

In spite of Monrovia’s sudden increase in rent prices, it’s nowhere near the top 10 most expensive cities in the LA area. Playa Vista is the highest on the scoreboard when it comes to actual rents, followed by Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey—so the podium remained the same as last year. Hollywood has gained a slight edge over Venice, but West Hollywood has remained at rank 6 in spite of an 8.2% Y-o-Y increase in prices.

The cheapest place to rent in the Los Angeles area is Palmdale, followed by Lancaster, both under $1,200. La Puente is just a hair above that threshold, and rents in El Monte, Hawthorne and Gardena also remained under the US average.

Northeast LA, San Fernando Valley hit by the biggest rent increases in the city

ZIP code 90065 recorded the highest Y-o-Y rent growth rate within LA’s city limits. The ZIP code comprises the Northeast LA neighborhoods of Mount Washington, Glassell Park and Cypress Park and posted a 17.7% rent increase, thus the average monthly price for an apartment reached $1,365—topping the national average, but still affordable by LA standards.

Second place is shared by 90016 (located halfway between Downtown LA and Santa Monica) and 91331 in the San Fernando Valley. Rents in ZIP code 90016, covering the West Adams neighborhood and parts of Mid-City and Baldwin Hills – Crenshaw cost $1,642 on average, 10.2% more than at the end of 2016. Implicitly, 91331 has seen its rents increase by the same proportions, reaching an average of $1,486.

90014, enclosed by 6^th and 9^th streets to the Northeast and Southwest and by South Grand Avenue and South San Pedro Street to the  Northwest and the Southeast, is Downtown’s only area that had considerable rent growth, at 9.8% year-over-year. Rents in this small area average out at $2,381, $213 above the year-ago figure.

The past year has brought intense rent growth to many areas in the San Fernando Valley—apart from the aforementioned 90016, two other ZIPs have also posted high, 9%+ increases compared to late 2016. ZIP code  91405 and the adjacent 91406 covering Lake Balboa and most of Van Nuys have seen their rents increase by 9.5% and 9.7%, respectively, both hovering around the $1,600 mark at the moment.

Look up prices in your area:

Methodology:
RentCafe is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States.

The report is exclusively based on apartment data related to buildings containing 50 or more units. Rent data was provided by Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self-storage sectors. Rental rate coverage is for Market Rate properties only. Fully Affordable properties are not included in the Yardi Matrix rental surveys and are not reported in rental rate averages.

Starting with the January 2017 rent survey, Yardi Matrix is using a methodology that incorporates more properties into the sample which caused slight changes in overall rents and year-over-year changes compared to the previous reports. We expect this methodology adjustment to produce more accurate averages at the national and metro levels.

*National averages include 127 markets across the US, as reported by Yardi Matrix.