USC Casden Report Sees Persistent Affordability Issues Across SoCal Rental Markets

Southern California’s major apartment markets will see rent increases for the next three years, according to this year’s University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. However, the forecast finds signs of progress on affordability in some markets.

Across five Southern California rental markets–Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura Counties and the Inland Empire–the USC Casden report notes areas that respond to demand by increasing housing production show relative affordability gains. Meanwhile, markets building less in response to strong demand remain among the region’s most expensive. The report nptes modest improvements in affordability across San Diego and the Inland Empire, while the other markets remain chronically undersupplied.

“Housing cannot be affordable unless we have plenty of it,” said forecast author Moussa Diop, associate professor of real estate at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. “San Diego and the Inland Empire show that there is still hope for affordability, but meaningful gains take time and sustained development. We need to make it easier to build significant amounts of housing,
at enough density, to make real progress. Southern California’s housing shortage is a problem we created, but it is also a problem we can solve.”