L.A. RENTS REMAIN FLAT FOR Q4 '02 APARTMENT STARTS DOWN 35 PERCENT FROM 2001.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer Apartment hunters in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Country during 2002's final quarter caught a break as both rents and vacancy rates remained essentially flat, an industry tracker reported Monday. During last year's final three months, the average rent in the county increased $4 a month, a scant 0.3 percent increase from the third quarter, and the vacancy rate ended the year at 94.8 percent, down 1.4 percent from a year ago, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Novato-based RealFacts. Overall, 2002 rents in sprawling Los Angeles County increased to $1,274 a month, up 5.4 percent from 2001, the company said. It all adds up to pretty good news for renters, said Gerald P. Cox, RealFacts director of marketing. ``Where you've got occupancy around 95 percent, it tends to indicate there is a balance of supply and demand, so it gives renters a reasonable amount of choice,'' he said. The company surveyed about 7,400 apartment owners in 10 states, and California again is the most expensive place to rent in the West. RealFacts covered 20 western markets, and California had the eight most expensive. San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden was first with an average rent in the fourth quarter of $1,621 a month. Thanks to the tech sector implosion implosion /im·plo·sion/ (im-plo´zhun) see flooding. im·plo·sion n. 1. , that was a 6.8 percent decrease from the final quarter of 2001. Los Angeles held third place, with an average quarterly rent of $1,299, an increase of 6.4 percent from the 2001 fourth quarter. Over the past four years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time quarterly average rent has increased 35 percent. The West's hottest market, rent-wise, in the year's final quarter was Riverside/San Bernardino, where rents increased 7 percent to $892 from the final quarter of 2001. By comparison, rents in Seattle averaged $858 in the fourth quarter, while the least expensive rents were found in Tucson, with an average of $609, the company said. Last year was not a good one building-wise for the apartment market, as starts fell 35 percent from 2001, said the National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the association organizes one of the largest conventions in North America, The International Builders' Show, which draws more than in a recent survey. The news is better this year, though, as apartment construction is expected to increase 15.8 percent. And next year, it will increase 16.9 percent from this year. Jack Kyser, chief economist The Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis. It is distinguished from the other economist positions by the broader scope of responsibility encompassing the for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said that the increasing rents in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, reflect a stressed-out economy. While new apartment complexes are being built, the rents will be high because of the high land and development costs. In many cases, the rents are more than a mortgage payment. And that's been good news for the resale and new housing market. ``People have made the decision its time to buy a home and get some equity and tax breaks,'' Kyser said. CAPTION(S): chart Chart: RISING RENTS SOURCE: RealFacts |
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