While apartment rents in West Hollywood are among the highest in the Los Angeles Metro region, they showed a modest 1.8% decline last month over June 2016, according to a study by ApartmentList.com. That was the largest monthly decline among 28 area cities, most of which saw increases.
The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in WeHo was $1,940 last month according to the study. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $2,500. For the 12 months ending in June, the median rent had increased 1.1% from the same period in 2015-2016. The median rent is the midpoint rent in an area, with equal numbers of apartments renting for less and for more.
“This is the second straight month that the city has seen rent decreases after an increase in April,” says the study. “West Hollywood’s year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 4.2%, as well as the national average of 2.9%.”
The study found a modest decrease (0.6%) in the monthly median rent in Glendale, whose 12-month rent increased at the same 1.8% rate as that of West Hollywood. The highest month-over-month increase was 0.6% in Burbank. The highest 12-month increase was 9.3% in Pomona. The study found that Pomona has the least expensive rents in the Los Angeles metro area, with a median of $1,460 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.
Median rents and percentage changes of those cities and others in the area are included in the chart below.
Other findings from the study are:
— Pomona has the least expensive rents in the Los Angeles metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,460; the city has also experienced the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 9.3%.
— Over the past month, Glendale has seen the biggest rent drop in the metro, with a decline of 0.6%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $1,760, while one-bedrooms go for $1,370.
— Irvine has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Los Angeles metro, with a two-bedroom median of $2,610; rents increased 0.3% over the past month and 3.8% over the past year.
— West Hollywood’s median two-bedroom rent of $2,500 is above the national average of $1,150. Nationwide, rents have grown by 2.9% over the past year.
— While rents in West Hollywood remained moderately stable this year, similar cities saw increases, including Seattle (+5.6%), Phoenix (+5.1%), Boston (+3.3%); where median two-bedroom rents go for $1,680, $1,020, and $2,090 respectively.
— Renters will generally find more expensive prices in West Hollywood than most large cities. Comparably, Houston has a median two-bedroom rent of $990, where West Hollywood is more than two-and-a-half times that price.
ApartmentList.com compiles its data by starting with median rent statistics from the Census Bureau. It then extrapolates those numbers forward to the current month using a growth rate that it determines from its listing data.
“Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD,” states an explanation on the ApartmentList.com website. “Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.”
“Harsh Reality,” you are correct about the market driving prices. Rent control is designed to keep people in their homes, without their rents going up, to outpace their income. But over time, people pass away, move, etc., and these units go back on the market. An elderly couple across the street from me passed away a couple summers ago, and their next of kin promptly put it on the market, listed at $1M. The bulldozers were here 6 months later, and a McMansion was built and sold for $3M. This is the world we live in, and it seems unavoidable.… Read more »
If you drill into the Crown’s website, the prices are listed. The one-bedrooms are $3300 – $3600. The 420 s.f. studio is $2700. Umm…wow.
Harsh – The MAR (Maximum Allowable Rent) changes from year to year. The 2.5% you citeed is not a fixed rate. The MAR, as I understand it, is “connected” to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Some landlords are greedy especially when they harass tenants to the point the tenant/s will vacate if given enough money. Then the landlord can take that Rent Control/Stabilized unit and raise the rent to whatever they think they can get for it. Your suggestion to move to Highland Park evokes memories of another era when people would advocate leaving the United States if they didn’t… Read more »
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Weho’s rent control increase max 2.5%, while LA’s is 5%? That’s twice as good as everything around us.
Like it or not, real estate is driven by the market, not “greedy” landlords. They’re just getting what the market will bear. If they’re priced too high, that unit will sit empty. If they’re asking the going rate, someone will rent it. The End.
If you don’t like the cost of living in Weho, try Highland Park. No one is forcing you to live here.
Clarification: Landlords can raise the rent to market rates, or to whatever they want, only AFTER the apartment is vacated for whatever reason/s. Landlords can NOT raise the rent on Rent Stabilized/Controlled units (beyond the annual increases approved by the City) while occupied. Again, the aforementioned applies solely to apartments which are subject to Rent Stabilization/Control.
The crown’s a joke indeed. What a waste of good real estate. Frankly I feel like we need to stop those 300 to 600 sqft micro apartments and set some reasonable limits for new construction.
Donald, you are incorrect. There IS and CONTINUES TO BE Rent Stabilization/Control. You are confusing the Ellis Act and possibly Costa-Hawkins legislation. The former allows landlords to withdraw apartment building units from the rental market while the latter permits landlords to raise the rent on stabilized units to market rates but those units, once occupied, are still subject to Rent Stabilization/Control. Further, apartment buildings constructed on or after July 1, 1979 (I think this is the correct date) are NOT subject to Rent Stabilization/Control. Please Google the Ellis Act and Costa-Hawkins for complete information.
One of the major issues that stimulated the founding of the City of West Hollywood was alarming rents! In fact this was probably the ONLY tangible reason so many of us signed the petition to withdraw from control by Los Angeles City. But there is NO RENT STABILIZATION now due to the STATE edict that cities could no longer have “Rent Control”. Since then, rents have escalated to such heights that the rental tenants have been gouged, often moving to other cities or changing the way they live. WEHO needs to group with other cities and lobby the State to… Read more »
This is one of those statistics that only goes to show you when you are at the apex of a field of contenders, little growth still isn’t much to speak of. Our rents a outrageously high, and as this is the ‘median’ price, those new buildings on Santa Monica and just about every other street in our fair town are way more expensive than the median priced ones. This is definitely one of those situations where ‘we’re number one!’ is not a good cheer. If you really want to be scared/disgusted, look at the Crown. http://www.thecrownweho.com is the website. There… Read more »