Southern California’s unaffordable homebuying market is helping to push up the cost of renting one.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed a year-end rent report from property-manager consultants Rentometer, which tracks three-bedroom houses in 857 cities nationwide, including 84 in Southern California. These stats don’t reflect the region’s post-wildfire realities, but they do offer clues about what local house renters were paying as 2025 started.
The 2024 average rent in 84 local communities was $4,152 monthly after a $122 increase – 3% – from 2023. While that may seem pricey, remember that this renter may hope to own one day.
You know there’s a significant homebuying catch. The estimated monthly payment for the $775,000 median-priced Southern California home in November was $5,060. That budget-busting expense is why the pace of local homebuying is painfully slow.
So, renting a Southern California house is almost an extra thousand bucks cheaper than buying. And a tenant doesn’t need a spare $155,000 to put toward a 20% downpayment.
Of course, local house rents are crazy compared with elsewhere in the U.S.
The typical American renting a single-family house pays $2,357 monthly – nearly half of what’s charged across Southern California. Last year, landlords across the U.S. could only get a $19 a month rent hike, or 0.8%.
That small increase follows the heavy development of new apartment complexes outside of California. New supply helped to chill price growth on all sorts of rentals.
Big jumps
When we divided local markets into three and ranked the Southern California cities by price change, we found that 2024’s steepest rent hikes were concentrated in more affordable communities. Bargain-hunting tenants are pushing up prices.
The typical landlord in these 28 cities charged $3,991 a month last year – up $233 over 12 months, or a 6.2% hike. The five costliest rent increases occurred in markets with above-average rents, but these are not luxury neighborhoods.
Hawthorne: Up 10.4% to $4,294 monthly rent (29th highest out of 84).
Fullerton: Up 10% to $4,231 (No. 32).
Camarillo: Up 8.6% to $3,967 (No. 44).
Burbank: Up 8.4% to $5,267 (No. 12).
Thousand Oaks: Up 8.3% to $4,502 (No. 23).
Discounters
Conversely, the 28 Southern California cities with the weakest pricing were pricier locales. Typical rents were $4,465, 12% higher than where rents jumped the most.
These discounting landlords cut what they charged by $30, or a 0.7% dip. Rents declined in 10 markets, with three of the most significant drops in the Coachella Valley.
Rentals outside of job hubs may be losing customers. Demand for remote-work housing is slipping as the return-to-office movement grows. The five big dips for house rents …
Palm Desert: Off 6.9% in a year to $4,187 monthly rent (No. 35 of 84).
San Gabriel: Off 5.4% to $3,641 (No. 58).
Palm Springs: Off 5% to $5,065 (No. 16).
Manhattan Beach: Off 3.5% to $6,906 (No. 3).
Rancho Mirage: Off 3.4% to $5,729 (No. 6).
Price extremes
One pattern rarely changes in Southern California: the closer to the ocean, the more you’ll pay.
Consider 2024’s five priciest places to rent a house are all seaside communities. But the roster includes two cities with declining prices.
Newport Beach: $7,316 monthly rent – up 6.4% yearly (No. 15 gain).
Santa Monica: $7,139 – up 0.2% (No. 74).
Manhattan Beach: $6,906 – off 3.5% (No. 82).
Santa Barbara: $6,485 – up 0.7% (No. 70).
Encinitas: $6,184 – off 2.4% (No. 79).
And 2024’s five cheapest spots for house rents are all in the Inland Empire …
Victorville: $2,371 monthly rent – up 4.6% yearly (No. 33 gain).
Hemet: $2,491 – up 1.4% (No. 64).
San Bernardino: $2,706 – up 4.1% (No. 40).
Desert Hot Springs: $2,789 – up 3.7% (No. 43).
Moreno Valley: $2,830 – up 2.2% (No. 56).
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com
