Many Southern California tenants are getting some price relief as local landlords scramble to retain and attract renters.

My trusty spreadsheet reviewed the March ApartmentList report, which tracks rents by combining government rent statistics with pricing from recently leased units in its rental-search database. Across the 53 Southern California cities in the study, rents dropped in 33 of them over the past year. That’s 62%.

March’s median result for the region was a 0.6% price drop, with rents of $1,940 for one-bedroom units and $2,357 for two-bedroom units. Curiously, there’s a decided split between where rents are rising and where they are falling.

Across 33 declining cities in the past year, with a 1.5% median dip, the median rent was $1,821 for one-bedroom units and $2,288 for two-bedroom units. Yet in the 20 cities where rents rose, the median increase was 1%, at $2,171 for one-bedroom and $2,587 for two-bedroom.

So we see that declining markets typically have 16% cheaper one-bedroom units and 12% cheaper two-bedroom units. That’s another signal that recent economic weakness has been harsher on folks with fewer means.

The local job market has been stagnant. Stubborn inflation eats away at paychecks as pay raises cool. And on top of those financial stresses, landlords have to compete with a modest supply of new apartment units. That puts extra pressure on rental pricing.

Metro math

When you look at rents within the region’s metro areas, Orange County stands out.

The region’s priciest market had only four of 15 cities with declining rents in the past year, or 27%. The median result was an 0.6% price rise with rents of $2,322 for one bedroom and $2,679 for two.

Ponder the other median metro results, ranked by the frequency of declining rents:

Los Angeles County: 85% decliners, with rents down in 11 of 13 cities. Median rent off 1.6%, with rents of $1,832 for one bedroom and $2,403 for two.
Ventura County: 80% decliners, 4 of 5 cities, with 1.9% price drop and rents of $2,105 for one bedroom and $2,534 for two.
Inland Empire: 75% decliners, 9 of 12 cities, with a median 0.7% price drop and rents of $1,684 for one bedroom and $1,964 for two.
San Diego: 63% decliners, 5 of 8 cities, with 1.8% price drop and rents of $1,837 for one bedroom and $2,239 for a two-bedroom.

Counting cities

Where were the biggest rent drops, by city, across Southern California in the past year?

Santa Monica was tops, off 8.1%, then Glendale (4.7%), Palm Desert (4.6%), Chula Vista (4.3%), La Mesa (3.7%), Calabasas (3.5%), Oxnard (3.2%), Pasadena (2.6%), Los Angeles (2.5%) and Monrovia (2.3%).

And Orange County was home to six of the 10 biggest local jumps: Newport Beach was No. 1, up 5.6%, followed by Aliso Viejo (4.6%), Culver City (2.7%), Oceanside (2.1%), Mission Viejo, Placentia and Carlsbad at 1.2%, and Moreno Valley, Costa Mesa and Laguna Niguel at 1%.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com