Rent Prices Decrease

A new study by Abodo found that the median rent price in Long Beach took a decline in the month of November.

Abodo is an apartment-listing website that calculates median rent prices for cities across the United States and the monthly changes for those prices.

According to the study, the median rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach is currently $1,395, a 0.8 percent decrease from October. The median price for a two-bedroom apartment is now $1,839, taking a 0.29 percent decrease from last month.

Sam Radbil, senior communications manager at Abodo, said, “We anticipate that the rent growth might begin to slow in very large cities like Long Beach because of the huge boom in multifamily construction and luxury developments coming to the market.”

Long Beach currently has several plans for new construction around the city, including a 22-story housing tower in downtown that will be available to students and faculty of Cal State Long Beach, a complex in the north side of downtown for homeless veterans and low-income citizens and The Pacific, a 163-unit apartment complex located on Third Street.

“With construction at its highest level since the 1980s, we believe that a steady decline in rent prices in rapidly growing metro areas like Long Beach may be on the way,” said Radbil. “Developers delivered 250,000 new rentals in 2015 and almost 285,000 more units were finished in 2016. As we’ve seen in the past, as more rental units become available, prices should continue to decrease in Long Beach and other surrounding California cities.”

The study found that Long Beach is one of the most affordable cities when compared to surrounding areas. When ranked nationally, Long Beach is seventeenth among most expensive rental markets.

Los Angeles took the seventh spot on Abodo’s Top 10 Highest Rents chart, with a median rent price of $2,097. San Francisco was ranked number one with a price of $3,303, followed by New York City at $2,782.

Despite the growing number of apartment complexes in the city, Long Beach is still not under rent control, meaning landlords have the right to increase rent prices as much as they would like, provided they properly inform tenants of the increase.

Josh Butler, executive director of Housing Long Beach, has begun the process of adding rent control on the November 2018 ballot. The proposed ballot measure is yet to be specified, but will include protections from unreasonable eviction and the establishment of a city-appointed board that would review rent-related cases.

In order for the measure to be included in the 2018 election ballot, Butler must gather a petition with 27,000 signatures within 180 days of the proposal’s approval by the city attorney.

“Sixty percent of Long Beach residents currently rent their homes and they deserve stability. Eviction protections and rent control are long overdue and the time for action is now,” Butler said in a statement.

monica@beachcomber.news