A one-bedroom apartment is 12 percent more expensive now than in the spring as construction of new housing fails to keep pace with demand, according to the San Diego County Apartment Association‘s latest report.
The association said the weighted average rent for a one-bedroom unit countywide was $1,531 this fall, up from $1,368 in the spring — a 12 percent increase. Studios rose from $1,084 to $1,128, while two-bedroom units rose from $1,637 to $1,789.
“Rising rents reflect the ongoing housing shortage in San Diego County,” said Alan Pentico, executive director of the apartment association. “The number of people looking to rent keeps growing, but the supply of rental housing is not growing anywhere fast enough to meet that growing demand.”
The vacancy rate in San Diego County now stands at 5.4 percent, but in the city of San Diego it is just 3.4 percent.
“While we’ve seen a fair amount of construction and development activity around the county over the past six months, the amount of new residential construction has actually declined this year compared to 2015,” Pentico said.
The association conducts a rental rate survey twice a year to provide a snapshot of industry conditions.