Rent will continue to rise for the next two years, $149 a month in OC, $136 in LA County, and $124 in the Inland Empire

Los Angeles - Orange County - Inland Empire CA — *Los Angeles – Orange County – Inland Empire CA*

With the high cost of living Southern Californians are being forced to rent and put the American dream of being a homeowner on hold. University of Southern California’s Casden Multifamily Forecast said on Wednesday that rent in Southern California will continue to rise for the next two years. In many areas, landlords have been demolishing old apartments to build new apartments building and raise the rent.

What does this mean for apartment renters?

This means that Orange County will see a rent hike of $149 a month over the next two years, $136 a month in Los Angeles County, and $124 a month in the IE, according to the forecast produced by the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Specifically, the forecast estimates:

The average Orange County rent will rise by 3.6 percent to $2,080 a month in 2018 and by another 3.7 percent to $2,157 a month in 2019.
The average Los Angeles County rent will rise by 3 percent in each of the next to years, increasing to $2,304 in 2018 and $2,373 in 2019.
The average Inland Empire rent will rise 4.1 percent to $1,509 a month in 2018 and by another 4.2 percent to $1,573 in 2019.

This year’s California rents are projected to be up 1% from 2016, the Casden figure show. But rent gains averaged 4.5 percent a year in Orange County and the Inland Empire from 2011 through 2016. The average annual gain was 5.7 percent in Los Angeles County in that period.

“Southern California markets have been among the least affordable for some time,” the forecast report said.

This comes at a time when Los Angeles County recently had a sales tax increase of 9.25% to 9.50% along with Long Beach, which had a prior sales tax of 9.25% to 10.25%, this makes it more difficult for single families and Angelenos who earn minimum wage to pay sales tax and high rent prices.