Those OC Rents That Have Been Rising Forever? More of the Same is Forecast

Guess what’s supposedly coming, Orange County apartment dwellers?

Triple-digit rent increases over the next two years.

(Please, try to contain your excitement.)  

This bit of bad news is brought to you by a USC Lusk Center for Real Estate study released Tuesday.

According to the 2016 USC Casden Multifamily Forecast, rents are expected to jump from 2015 levels by $149 in Orange County by 2018.

Don’t look other directions for relief, especially south, where in San Diego County renters can expect a $155 hike over the same time frame. It’s less in the Inland Empire ($84) and Los Angeles County ($109) but as you can see they are going up everywhere.

Why?

“Though multifamily construction permits are back to pre-recession levels and have provided some relief, population and employment growth are driving up demand faster than new inventory can hit the market. For renters, new construction has simply kept a bad situation from getting drastically worse,” explains Raphael Bostic, interim director of the Lusk Center.

Rents have actually been on a continual rise here. Orange County’s average rent of $1,587 in 2015 was up $81 from the year before. The report pegs OC’s average 2018 rent at $1,736.

Landlords could at least throw in free HBO.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *