Housing prices have gone haywire post wildfire with officials warning of scams, price gouging or just immoral attempts to raise rents and the current reality stands in stark contrast to the pre-wildfire economy where renters were actually seeing some relief.
According to apartment catalog website Apartment List, Santa Monica saw greater drops in rental prices than the national average last year. As of the start of January, the overall median rent in Santa Monica was listed at $2,449 per month, down 1.5 percent year-over-year. December was another drop month for the city as well, with prices down 0.4 percent from November.
The median one-bedroom apartment in the city now goes for $2,318, while the median two-bedroom goes for $2,779. Overall, the median rent drop from January to December 2024 was 0.9 percent, the second consecutive year of falling prices. The median rent fell 5.8 percent in the city from January-December 2023, after two large post-pandemic jumps in 2021 (12.3 percent increase) and 2022 (9 percent increase).
Santa Monica’s 1.5 percent fall year-over-year outpaced both California (which grew 0.8 percent) and the national average (falling 0.5 percent). Across the Los Angeles metro, prices fell 0.3 percent.
Within Santa Monica, apartment listing site RentCafe reported that not surprisingly, North of Montana remains the most expensive neighborhood to rent in, followed by Downtown and Mid-City. Sunset Park, Ocean Park and Wilshire-Montana were noted as the least expensive neighborhoods to rent within.
Compared to 25 other cities within the Los Angeles metro area, Santa Monica typically fell around the top five in median rents in the Apartment List roundup. However, the city now ranks ninth in both median one-bedroom and two-bedroom rent. Cities more expensive for a one-bedroom rental on the list were Calabasas, Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Newport Beach, Aliso Viejo, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo.
Santa Monica’s year-over-year rent drop was tied for the highest on the list alongside Santa Ana. Santa Ana, Santa Monica, Lake Forest, Santa Clarita and the City of Los Angeles were the only places on the report to fall 1 percent or greater year-over-year.
Reasons for the national decrease in median rent, the Apartment List report states, include an uptrend in the supply side of the market, with 2024 seeing the most new apartment completions since the mid-1980s. Off-season cooldowns in the winter also were able to outweigh busy season price increases.
“This marks the second straight year of declining (national) rents, and the third consecutive winter in which seasonal discounts have been notably sharper than the pre-pandemic norm,” the report stated. “As an influx of new supply has collided with softer demand over the past two and a half years, the national median rent has gradually dipped 4.8 percent below its mid-2022 peak.”
For more information on the local and national reports, visit ApartmentList.com.
