April 13, 2016

The 2016 USC Casden Multifamily Forecast released this week revealed that higher demand for apartments across Southern California is expected to keep vacancies low, and drive significant rent increases over the next two years. A big reason for that is most multifamily construction in Southern California targets higher income renters, and does little to control rent.

Vacancy rates are projected to continue their gradual decline through 2018. As a result, average rents are expected to increase over their 2015 levels by $109 in Los Angeles County, $149 in Orange County, $84 in the Inland Empire, and a whopping $155 in San Diego County by 2018.

USC Lusk Center for Real Estate’s Raphael Bostic says, “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.”