Los Angeles rental prices went nowhere in January, remaining exactly where they were a month before, according to a new report from Apartment List.
Citywide, the median cost of a one-bedroom apartment is $1,340 per month, while two-bedroom rentals fetch $1,730.
Rents have shot up four percent since this time last year, says the report, but prices have actually dropped off a bit since August, when they hit $1,350 for a one-bedroom and $1,740 for two-bedroom units.
Since then, rental prices haven’t budged much—a trend some market analysts think will continue in the coming year.
Still, those monthly payments are by no means cheap. Apartment List notes that the cost of rent in Los Angeles has easily outpaced the U.S. average over the past year, and that a typical two-bedroom apartment in the city commands a price tag nearly $600 higher than the nationwide median of $1,160.
Apartment List relies on U.S. Census data to calculate rental prices, meaning that these numbers give a good sense of what residents are paying now. But for newcomers to the city and those looking for a change of scenery, these prices may seem lower than what’s showing up on listing sites and through other apartment hunting resources.
To give a sense of what renters surveying the market can expect to find, CoStar provided Curbed with its own calculation for average asking rent in the greater Los Angeles area. By this metric, one-bedroom apartments cost about $1,804 per month—a 3.4 percent increase over this time last year.
A low vacancy rate is one reason why Los Angeles rents are increasingly unaffordable for many residents. CoStar calculates that just 3.7 percent of rental units in the area are now sitting empty.