LA Apartment Rents Rise, But Just Alittle

Calling the U.S. apartment market, "generally weak," the RealFacts report said the fourth-quarter increase in Los Angeles amounted to a gain of only 0.3% between September and December, the smallest increase in a year. The figures are for the properties in the RealFacts study, which surveyed 475 apartment complexes comprising 109,737 units, or an average of 231 units per property. Rents generally tend to be higher in these larger buildings than in the many smaller apartment buildings throughout the county.

The report says that the apartment occupancy rate remained virtually unchanged for most of the year, hovering around 95%. The steadiness of the occupancy "is especially encouraging in a county with a significant amount of new construction," the author suggests, noting that continued strong sales prices reflect investors' sense of security about the Los Angeles County market.

The current average rent for all apartments in the county is $1,299 in the properties surveyed by RealFacts, compared to $1,295 at the end of the third quarter. This breaks down further into averages of $938 for a studio unit; $1,156 for a one-bedroom unit; $1,490 for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit; and $1,882 for a three-bedroom apartment.

RealFacts points out that the figures are averages for the county, however, and that rents can run significantly higher or lower in some areas.

One-bedroom, one-bath apartments constitute the largest portion of the 109,737 units surveyed, accounting for more than 46,000 of the units. Two-bedroom, two-bath units represent the next largest group, nearly 34,000 of the apartments. The largest number of units by far, 21,276, is in the city of Los Angeles.