The median price of a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles was $1,360 in July, according to a new report from Apartment List.
That's right where prices stood a month ago—and a month before that. Two-bedroom prices have also remained at $1,750.
Over the past year, rents have risen just 1.3 percent, slightly above the national average (1.2 percent), but under the average gain of 1.8 percent across all of California.
After facing years of escalating prices, LA renters are getting something of a reprieve in 2018, as prices have more or less flatlined. That doesn't mean rents here are affordable. Nationwide, the median price for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,180, nearly 33 percent below the LA price.
These prices aren’t necessarily reflective of what renters can expect to find when searching for a new place. Apartment List bases its price calculations on Census data, and its data shows what tenants in the city of Los Angeles are paying right now. To get a sense of what the market looks like, we asked CoStar for average rental listing prices across all of LA County.
According to CoStar, one-bedroom prices now sit at $1,678. The price for a two-bedroom apartment? $2,147. Though higher than the Apartment List calculations, those figures also haven’t risen much since last month.
In May, Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at USC, told Curbed that rent growth in LA may have slowed in response to new housing construction and the ability of some renters to buy rather than continue leasing property.
- LA rents continue to flatline [Curbed LA]
- Why have LA rental prices stopped rising? [Curbed LA]
- Can LA build its way out of its housing crisis? [Curbed La]
Comments
Still a bit pricey
By Wackyone1968 on 08.01.18 12:48pm
The rents are still pricey
By Wackyone1968 on 08.01.18 12:48pm
The MOST I ever paid in rent is $650 and that was for a very nice Silver Lake pedigreed architectural with views and outdoor space. I’m sorry but young people are paying too much in rent these days for much less remarkable apartments and I can’t see how that isn’t holding them back. My advice is save your money while you are starting out (rent a smaller place, have roommates, live in a less cool neighborhood, etc. ) and then buy a house as soon as you can. According to zillow our home increased in value by $33,000 just this month alone. Believe it or not that is more than I earned in one year at my first job after graduate school.
By lady who lunches on 08.01.18 2:22pm
How much was a loaf of bread back then? 20 cents?
By FrogDweller on 08.01.18 5:09pm
The cost of housing has increased significantly and wages are stagnant. It’s nearly impossible to save money to purchase a home when rent is so high and starter homes are no less than $600k. It’s not like before when people paid 200k for a home which is now worth 800k and their incomes rose while keeping $800 mortgage payment.
By Kermit Kardashian on 08.01.18 11:26pm
The cost of living is too high. I worry about future generations and how they will be able to afford housing. People should be able to purchase homes if they have a decent income and work fulltime. It’s so sad that my generation 1980+ are having to struggle so much to get by. Even with great careers and higher education it simply is not enough.
By Kermit Kardashian on 08.01.18 11:30pm
I completely agree with you and if young people were more involved in local politics things might start moving in a direction that benefits young people. As it stands our city council only serves wealthy older people because the perception if not the reality is older people with money are the only ones who vote. Every month year after year our city council puts into place policy that only exacerbates the unaffordable housing crisis. I think a younger more progressive future oriented city council would do wonders. Even if young people in just David Ryu and Paul Koretz’s districts started taking them to task for their anti-affordable housing views things might improve.
By lady who lunches on 08.02.18 12:57pm
Are you and lady who lunches the same person?
By FrogDweller on 08.02.18 3:38pm
Coastal California is a terrible place to settle and live if you don’t make big bucks. you’ll never get anywhere financially. there is simply too much demand and limited supply of housing. move to texas, arizona, nevada or any number of states with much lower cost of living. If you don’t you are surrendering to a life of misery.
By LAoneWay on 08.02.18 7:32am
Sorry, but moving to Texas, Arizona or Nevada sounds like the definition of misery. Places that are cheap are cheap for a reason.
By Ferryboy on 08.02.18 9:45am
Completely agree.
By FrogDweller on 08.02.18 3:38pm