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Lansner on Real Estate ~ The latest news about the housing market from Orange County Register columnist Jon Lansner.

Westminster led O.C. cities in rent drops

October 26th, 2009, 2:00 am · 25 Comments · posted by Jeff Collins

Three Orange County cities with the highest vacancy rates had the steepest rent reductions at large apartment complexes during the summer, the latest numbers from apartment tracker RealFacts show. According to RealFacts:

    City Occu. Rent Chg.
    Westminster 89.4% $1,312 -9.0%
    Mission Viejo 92.6% $1,400 -7.2%
    Irvine 91.5% $1,779 -7.1%
    Newport B. 93.6% $1,842 -7.1%
    Placentia 94.5% $1,367 -6.1%
    Santa Ana 94.2% $1,324 -5.8%
    Tustin 94.0% $1,473 -5.8%
    Huntington B. 94.9% $1,422 -5.2%
    La Habra 95.2% $1,272 -5.1%
    Stanton 94.2% $1,245 -5.1%
    Orange 94.9% $1,551 -5.0%
    Fountain Valley 94.6% $1,396 -4.6%
    Aliso Viejo 93.7% $1,644 -4.6%
    Costa Mesa 93.4% $1,579 -4.4%
    Lake Forest 95.1% $1,472 -4.4%
    Buena Park 93.8% $1,296 -3.6%
    Fullerton 92.8% $1,374 -3.4%
    Anaheim 92.9% $1,291 -3.0%
    Cypress 96.8% $1,382 -3.0%
    Laguna 95.3% $1,576 -2.4%
    RSM 92.7% $1,489 -2.2%
    Garden Grove 95.4% $1,348 -2.1%
    Brea 94.4% $1,469 3.0%
    O.C. 93.4% $1,523 -5.0%
  • Apartment owners in Westminster — which had the county’s highest percentage of empty units — made the greatest rent cuts. Rents in Westminster’s large apartment complexes dropped 9% to an average of $1,312 a month.
  • Nearly 11% of the units in Westminster’s large complexes were empty.
  • Mission Viejo and Irvine had the second- and third-biggest rent reductions.
  • Mission Viejo landlords cut summer rental rates by 7.2% to an average of $1,400 a month.
  • Apartment owners in Irvine cut rent by 7.1% to an average of $1,779 a month.
  • Irvine had the county’s second-highest vacancy rate at 8.5%. Mission Viejo had the third-highest at 7.4%.
  • Newport Beach — which tied Irvine for having the third-largest rent drop — continues to have the county’s highest apartment rents: $1,842, even though it fell 7.1% from the year before.
  • Stanton had the county’s lowest rent: $1,245. Rents there fell 5.1% from summer of 2008.
  • Rents went down last summer in 22 of the 23 cities included in RealFacts’ survey. RealFacts only includes cities with five or more complexes of 100 or more units.
  • Brea was the sole O.C. city in the survey to see rents go up. Brea’s average rent in a large apartment complex increased 3% to $1,469 a month.

Countywide, the average rent was $1,523 over the summer, down 5% from the summer of 2008. The average vacancy rate was 6.6%, RealFacts reported.

RealFacts coverage:

Posted in: Apartments/RentsTop tale
 
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 25 Comments

  • Theedon says:

    What type of apartments have the lower rent? 1 bedroom? 2 bedrooms? 500square feet or 1500 square feet. Come on how about a few more details in this report.

  • Buy the dip later says:

    Real reduction in rent is actually higher everywhere. Add in the incentives and perks, free rent, extra parking space, extra storage space, etc. that most large apt complex are offering, and you get a bigger discount in rent.

    If rent prices are dropping every year, how does that work out for home prices in the future? Up or down? RE agents still want to claim it is a good time to buy a home now, or is it the commission you really care about? Or does declining rent prices have no effect on home prices, like you claim unemployment has no effect in home prices? Keep dreaming like it was 2005. Strap on your seat belts because we in for a rough ride down.

    • Lucifer'sFlowers says:

      I’ve never heard a real estate agent say a time when it was not good to by a home.

      • Walter says:

        I’m an agent and I have been telling people it is a bad time to buy since 2005. Thing is I have other income so I can afford to do this.

        I am hoping that in 1 - 3 years the crazy time will be over and one can buy a house without fear it will fall 20%+.

    • Surprised says:

      Obviously if rent prices droped every year, home prices would also. Have you ever seen an extended period of time in which rents droped over say a 100 year span? If you were to build an apartment complex knowing that rents would go to zero in 10 years would you do it?

      • Brain says:

        Hmmm….I read back through all the comments and didn’t see a single mention of 100 year spans of rental decreases OR a single mention of rents going to zero in 10 years.

        What argument or point of view are you presenting?

        • Surprised says:

          “If rent prices are dropping every year, how does that work out for home prices in the future? ”

          Brain, get reading glasses. “Every year ” sounds perpetual to me. I suppose if something drops partially each year, it technically will not go to zero. But, close enough since there is nothing smaller than one penny.

  • brianguy says:

    bagholders will be loving this…

  • Techie714 says:

    This is great news everybody likes to pay lower rent & this gives them more disposable income, finally some good news!

  • pdu says:

    Didn’t we just see a bit by Lansner about how the relationship between rents and mortgage payments were making buying a better choice in some situations?
    All that with no mention that rents are on the way down and will continue down for some time until we see employment and income increase……….and yes, there is a relationship between declining rents and dropping house values.

  • Lucifer'sFlowers says:

    So about an extra $100 savings?

    That might help out the local businesses; depending on how many people rent and whether or not they consider that savings as disposable income.

  • dasboot says:

    Big deal. $1312 average is still alot for that dumpy city. Greedy landlords!

  • SC2 says:

    Rich people renting (and I guess poor people are underwater…) -

    http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/23/real-estate-advisor-personal-finance-high-end-rentals.html?ref=patrick.net

    Are you wealthy but homeless? Lucky you.

    For well-off folks who don’t own a home now and don’t mind renting for a while, this is a something of a golden era. That’s because renting–particularly at the high end–has become such a startlingly good deal in some cities.

    Falling rents at the high end reflect the overall trend among landlords across the board. Green Street Advisors, a real estate research firm in Newport Beach, Calif., analyzed data from two firms that follow rents, New York-based REIS and Dallas-based Axiometrics. Green Street calculates that the apartment companies it follows, which include AvalonBay Communities ( AVBPRH - news - people ), Equity Residential ( EQR - news - people ), Essex Property Trust ( ESS - news - people ) and others, will experience 13% to 15% drops in their rental operating income (that’s rent minus property taxes, fix-up costs and other routine expenses) on average during this recession.

  • shockg says:

    Blah Blah Blah

  • shockg says:

    And the market is not cooperating with your agenda. Go figure.

    • Brain says:

      shockg says:
      October 26, 2009 at 5 pm

      “oooo ooooh ooooh eeee-eee-EEEE!”

      BAD NAR monkey!

    • BOGEY says:

      What’s your agenda NAR-monkey/shockg? Lol, oh the irony . .. for example: Case-Schiller is going to report tomorrow home prices FALLING, 10 city composite index DOWN 1% for Q3.

      Q3 = PEAK SELLING SEASON Lolllll

      tic, tic, tic

    • SC2 says:

      What agenda? you always refer to an agenda. The only agenda is the agenda of underwater people like you hoping that they can stop drowning. I just report the facts - sorry if you don’t like them.

  • pdu says:

    “Agenda” is one of thos writin’ words that shockg saw somewhere.
    She was so impressed that she decided to use it here to impress everyone:))

  • NC says:

    Real estate agents is about the same as used car saleman.

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