SoCal Apartment Exodus Outpaces Inflows

More renters moved out of apartments last year in Los Angeles County than moved in over the previous five years, according to a new report that finds the recession forcing Southern California landlords to lower rents and offer more valuable concessions. According to the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California, some tenants who still have jobs are taking advantage of fire-sale housing prices to become owners, while unemployed tenants are doubling up with family or friends. And those trends are likely to continue, the report said of apartment markets in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties. "The dramatic changes in the economy are taking their toll on landlords," said Delores Conway, director of the annual Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. Only San Diego, which has a 95% occupancy rate and has seen rents rise by 1%, is bucking the trend. In Orange County, on the other hand, rents fell 2% in 2008, the first time they have declined in 13 years. In Riverside and San Bernardino, the so-called Inland Empire, occupancy levels showed their largest drop-off in a decade.