A new forecast is projecting modest single-digit apartment rent increases in Southern California counties through the middle of 2026, with Inland Empire rents posting the largest rent growth in the region at 7%.

USC’s Casden Multifamily Forecast, which projects rent increases through mid-2026 in comparison to rent levels in the summer of 2024, said a persistent housing shortage will keep rents on an upward trajectory in SoCal, the Orange County Register reported.

“We’ve experienced a construction slowdown in an area dangerously tight on new supply. Meanwhile, states like Texas and Florida are outbuilding us. When it comes to housing, California is falling behind,” said Moussa Diop, an associate professor of real estate at USC and a co-author of the Casden report, in a statement.