L.A. Apartment Rents Fall Nearly 8% During Pandemic

Los Angeles apartment rents have declined 7.5% since February, according to a new report from Apartment List. The downward trend has kept pace with apartment vacancy, which has increased. According to the report, the pre-pandemic vacancy index in Los Angeles was 7.4%, but since has since increased to 7.9%.

Los Angeles’ apartment rent loss came slowly and steadily, unlike markets like San Francisco that spiked earlier on in the pandemic. “Our rent index for Los Angeles began trending downward in April and has shown negative month-over-month growth in each month since, so it wouldn’t necessarily say that the market in L.A. was any slower to react than in other parts of the country,” Christopher Salviati, housing economist at Apartment List, tells GlobeSt.com. “Compared to San Francisco, the magnitude of the rent decline in L.A. has been less extreme.”

San Francisco, California’s other major metro, had the most extreme apartment rent loss in the country. By comparison, Los Angeles reacted much differently to the pandemic. “San Francisco has had the fastest falling rents in the country by a fairly wide margin, with a year-over-year decline of 25.5%,” says Salviati. “While the year-over-year decline for L.A. is somewhat more modest, L.A. still ranks 12^th among the 100 largest cities in the country for fastest falling rents.”

Overall, major metros have seen rapid rent decreases, especially compared to small and emerging markets, which in some cases had rent growth. “The nation’s most expensive markets are the ones where rents have been falling fastest; L.A. is certainly among the priciest markets in the country, but has always been a bit more affordable than San Francisco,” says Salviati.

Los Angeles may already be through the worst of the decrease in rental rates, but Salviati isn’t expecting a reverse of the trend any time soon or a swift recovery for the apartment market. ‘The fact that vacancy rates have begun to tick back down would suggest that rent declines may soon level off as well. While the steepest declines may be behind us, I do expect rent growth in L.A. to remain soft through next year,” he says. “Longer-term, the degree to which companies continue to embrace remote work post-COVID will be an important factor to keep an eye on.”