{"id":518870,"date":"2026-11-05T00:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T00:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/518870\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T00:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T00:24:23","slug":"southern-california-rent-hikes-are-moderating-by-cpi-math-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/518870\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern California rent hikes are moderating, by CPI math \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southern California rent hikes are cooling, by Consumer Price Index math<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My trusty spreadsheet found the trend after reviewing the rent slice of the much-watched inflation measurement for 22 large metropolitan areas and the nation.<\/p>\n

By this math, tenants in Los Angeles and Orange counties paid 3.2% more in September than a year earlier, the eighth-largest gain among the 22 metros tracked. Inland Empire rent was up 3.1%, the ninth-largest gain, and San Diego County rose 2.7%, the 13th-largest gain.<\/p>\n

Now, many housing gurus dislike the CPI\u2019s rent index because they feel its backbone, surveying all renters about what they pay, captures both old and new leases. But that\u2019s exactly what I think makes it a valuable counter to many industry-favored metrics that tell you what landlords are currently asking for empty units.<\/p>\n

And no matter what you think of this rent yardstick, you have to watch it because it\u2019s a significant chunk of the overall CPI calculation.<\/p>\n

Statistical debate noted, two of the three local rent inflation rates exceeded the nation\u2019s 2.8% increase, with hikes across the 22 American metros ranging from Honolulu\u2019s 5.4% increase to Phoenix\u2019s 1.3% decrease.<\/p>\n

The good news is these CPI rent-index hikes are smaller than what local tenants saw last year. A wobbly economy and a construction boom forced numerous landlords to compete to fill units.<\/p>\n

For all of 2025, L.A.-Orange County\u2019s 4% gain was the eighth-largest of the 22 metros, the Inland Empire\u2019s 5% gain was second, and San Diego\u2019s 4.8% gain was third.<\/p>\n

Nationally in 2025, rents rose 3.5% \u2014 from Chicago\u2019s 5.2% to Phoenix\u2019s 1.3% decrease.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s hikes also offered tenants a welcome respite from the sharp increases seen during the pandemic era.<\/p>\n

L.A.-Orange County\u2019s 3.9% gain in 2020-2024 was modest among the 22 metros, ranking fifth-lowest. But the Inland Empire\u2019s 6.3% gain was fifth-highest, and San Diego\u2019s 5.5% gain ranked seventh-highest.<\/p>\n

Nationally, rents rose 4.9% in 2020-2024 \u2013 from Tampa\u2019s 8.4% jump to San Francisco\u2019s 2.2% increase.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Try Jonathan Lansner\u2019s Substack collection of economic trends. CLICK HERE<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southern California rent hikes are cooling, by Consumer Price Index math. My trusty spreadsheet found the trend after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,387,1011,100,1010],"class_list":["post-518870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-business","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-rent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}