If you’re a renter in Orange County, you’re going to pay more according to a comprehensive study by RentCafe which looked at actual rents in more than 250 large US cities. You can see the a comprehensive study by clicking the link; Anaheim had the highest rent increase year over year at 4.5% while Irvine remains one of OC’s priciest rental markets.
Here are 9 ways to describe the rental market in 2017:
- The national average rent increased by 2.5% reaching $1,359, about 24% higher than 10 years ago.
- This means the average American renter paid approx. $400 additional rent over 2017 compared to 2016.
- The average price for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units increased the most, 3.1% and 3.0% respectively.
- Rent growth slowed down in the hottest markets.
- With a 1.7% rent decrease, Manhattan and Brooklyn were among the cities with the most significant drops in 2017.
- Viva Las Vegas? The City of Lights posted the fastest growth rate of all large cities (6.3%).
- Facing a housing shortage and pressure coming from big cities, mid-sized markets saw rents soaring. Sacramento struggled with an 8.8% increase.
- Anaheim posted the fastest growing rent in Orange County, 4.5%. The most expensive city for renters in Southern California, Irvine struggled to keep prices in check with a 3.2% y-o-y increase in December.
- Small-size cities took the main stage in 2017 with growth rates form renters in Odessa and Midland ended up paying about $3,400 in extra rent for the year.
The solution? Cities need to be more involved in the housing development business, guaranteeing more affordable housing. Developers pushing projects need to include more affordable housing projects hen submitting plans. Where cities and their planning departments are effectively tools of developers, the state and county governments need to exercise development guidelines that make it easier to develop needed housing or rent control initiatives should be implemented.