Overall, the pandemic has accelerated migration from major metros into more affordable secondary markets—but recent data from Apartment List shows that there has yet to be a significant exodus out of Los Angeles. The city has a growing vacancy rate and decreasing rents, but so far, renters seem to be moving to more affordable areas within the city rater than exiting.

"At the metro level, our search data does not indicate that there has been a significant increase in the share of L.A. residents looking to leave the metro. We have found a trend of rents falling fastest in the urban core, while many surrounding suburbs are seeing more modest declines or even slight increases in rents, so some of the increase in vacancies is likely attributable to renters moving out to the farther reaches of the metro," Christopher Salviati, housing economist at Apartment List, tells GlobeSt.com.

In addition the market dislocation and job loss has likely led to the consolidation of households. "Increased financial hardship has likely forced some to move in with family or friends to mitigate housing costs," says Salviati. "I believe these factors are all at play, but it's a bit difficult to disentangle the relative magnitude of each."