Perhaps unnoticed among the issues in this state related to housing affordability is the slight reprieve taking place throughout Los Angeles County.
The price of rent in the city and surrounding county is dropping, bucking regional and statewide trends.
That’s at least the situation discovered by my colleague Jack Flemming, who wrote about the change last month.
Let’s jump into his reporting and see what’s happening.
What the numbers say
Data suggests that the market could be ever-so-slightly shifting.
The median rent in the L.A. metro area dropped to $2,167 in December — the lowest in four years, according to data from Apartment List, which analyzes new leases for one- and two-bedroom apartments in a given month.
The median rent for L.A. County also dropped to a four-year low of $2,035.
Not a common occurrence
The last time L.A. rents were that low was January 2022, in the wake of a furious pandemic home-buying market that saw a wave of renters purchase homes for the first time, leaving apartments empty and bringing prices down.
The drop-off mirrors a national trend, as the U.S. median rent fell to a similar four-year low in December. But within Southern California, the downturn is unique to L.A.
Over the same stretch, rents rose or remained steady in Orange, Ventura and San Bernardino counties and in California as a whole.
One woman’s experience
Sandra Gomez braced for impact as she opened the lease renewal offer for her East L.A. apartment in September. She paid $2,000 for the last 12 months, but since the unit wasn’t covered by L.A.’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, her landlord could jack up the price for the next lease.
The new price? $1,950.
“I thought it was a mistake,” Gomez said. “Since when does rent get cheaper in L.A.?”
What’s behind the change
The clearest explanation seems to be a simple case of supply and demand.
In 2025, 15,095 multifamily units were completed in L.A., according to CoStar. That’s an 18% increase year over year and the second-highest total in the last decade.
Multifamily housing supply surged while demand dropped, as L.A. County’s population shrank by 28,000 in 2025. As a result, vacancy rates climbed to 5.3% in December — the highest since April 2021, according to Apartment List.
Anthony Luna, chief executive of the property management company Coastline Equity, said he started seeing an unusual drop in rental demand toward the end of 2025, adding that it typically rebounds in January. But so far, he hasn’t seen it pick back up.
Luna credits a few other factors for the changing market. Last year, communities targeted by immigration officers, such as Long Beach and East L.A., saw a jump in vacancies. This year, anxiety over the federal government and a wavering stock market is making people less secure in their finances, causing some tenants to move in with family or friends — leaving studio and one-bedroom apartments empty.
The exception
Melanie Moran, a concierge agent for the Rental Girl who helps people find rentals, said rents are getting more expensive in trendy areas such as Silver Lake, Los Feliz, West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Culver City.
“Rents might be hitting a plateau in some places, but I’m not seeing a significant decrease in price, especially in popular neighborhoods,” Moran said.
How long will this last?
Experts disagree on the extent of the drop; some say it’s a sign of things to come, while others suggest it’s merely a brief price plateau and rents will rise again this year.
After all, the winter rental market is typically slower than the summer market, and the recent low is just 4.2% less than the all-time high of $2,262 in August 2022.
Check out the full article here.
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