For years, the luxury apartments of Westwood held the title of Los Angeles’ most expensive neighborhood to rent—but, as of August, that appears to have changed. The newest Los Angeles Rent Report from Apartment List crowns Venice as the priciest place for a Southland renter to live.
Remember the brief window when there seemed to be a brief reprieve from the constant escalation of home rental costs in our region? Well, this study finds that stabilization is behind us now, and that average rents went up half a percentage point just between July and August. However, in Venice, the prices rose more than a full point, bringing up the price of an average one-bedroom there to $3,800. A similar dwelling in Westwood would now be $3,000.
To make that seem all the more dramatic, an average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco—among the country’s very most expensive cities to live—costs $3,420, or almost $400 less than an apartment in Venice.
Outside the city limits of Los Angeles, the locality with the highest rent is Pasadena. At $2,060, an average one bedroom in Pasadena costs over 6 percent more than it did just one year ago and about $110 more than an average apartment within LA proper.
Looking for a bargain abode? You might want to look at Crenshaw, Tarzana or North Hills, all neighborhoods where an apartment still rings up well under $2,000. Or, if you’re flexible on locale, it seems you can still rent a place in Bakersfield for just $700.
Image: Courtesy Apartment List
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