Huntington Beach is currently leading the Los Angeles market for apartment rent growth. According to a new report from Yardi's Rent Café, Huntington Beach apartment rents increased 10.8% year-over-year in May, the fastest rental rate growth in Southern California. Los Angeles and San Diego also saw rental rate increases, and Pasadena boasted the most significant month-over-month gain with a 1.7% increase in May.

“In the past 10 years, Huntington Beach and Pasadena have had around 5,000 renter households. We looked at apartment construction rates for the past decade and noticed both cities have seen below 2,500 new units delivered – still a healthier number than other areas in Southern California, like the Inland Empire,” Alexandra Ciuntu of Rent Café tells GlobeSt.com. “In addition, the supply that did come to completion in the past five years mostly constituted of high-end apartments. This could indicate that demand in this particular sector may have influenced average monthly rents in both areas as Huntington Beach had the most significant annual rent growth and Pasadena had the fastest monthly increase.”

Although Pasadena had the highest month over month rent growth in May, rents in the market have been volatile over the last six months. “Pasadena rents have fluctuated for the first half of the year whereas rent prices in Huntington Beach flatlined for six months following peak rental reason last year, only to steady climb starting March this year—consistent with seasonality increases nationwide,” says Ciuntu.