Not too long ago we noted that rents in Los Angeles were continuing to rise in spite of national trends to the contrary. Well, the data is in, and that trend ended in October, when rents declined for the first time in six months, according to a report from Real Estate data consultant Axiometrics.
But renters shouldn’t start fantasizing about a more affordable future just yet. As Jay Denton, senior vice president of analytics at Axiometrics, notes in the report, it’s not unusual for rents to drop off a bit in the fall and winter seasons, only to shoot back up again in the spring and summer.
And while rental prices also decreased in the Inland Empire, they went up in Orange County, suggesting the Southern California market is still looking pretty landlord-friendly. Overall, rents in the LA area are up a little over four percent since October of last year, while the occupancy rate stands at 96.2 percent—down ever so slightly from 96.4 percent last year.
The bottom line is that prices will probably start climbing again soon, but let’s not diminish the moment. To those who locked down a lease agreement last month, congratulations; you saved about $9, on average, over what the same unit would have cost in September. Hey, that adds up.
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