SAN DIEGO — We have all been feeling like we are paying more for everything including rent.
Real estate group CoStar found rent prices are up across San Diego County. Real estate experts have said people are looking to rent over buying, when more people rent, the more prices go up.
CoStar’s found of all the cities in California, a recent study found San Diego has the fastest-growing rent.
“It’s way too high, it’s ridiculous,” said Anastasiya Rudenko, a renter in Serra Mesa.
Rudenko and her roommate rent a two-bedroom, one-bath for $2,700 in Serra Mesa.
“We don’t even have in-unit laundry, we don’t have updated appliances or anything. It’s not the worst apartment you’ve ever seen, but it’s definitely not worth $2,700 a month,” Rudenko explained. “We were ideally shooting for something that’s like $2,000 but there was literally nothing, this was the cheapest option we could find.”
CoStar looked into rent trends for the Mission Valley/North Central region. This area includes Mission Valley, Mission Beach, Kearny Mesa and Clairemont near Rudenko’s Serra Mesa apartment.
CoStar found renters in this region are seeing an annual increase of 1.2%. Mission Valley has seen an apartment growth of 3,600 units in five years, according to CoStar.
The area is also home to several jobs, where Rudenko works but does not get paid enough. Rudenko tells us her roommate takes the higher rent portion.
“Because she is the best,” Rudenko said. “We don’t split evenly, that would not do it for me.”
Jesse Zagorsky, a broker associate with eXp Realty, said “the pricing has gone up so much, it’s tough as a potential tenant.”
Zagorsky has 20 years of real estate experience. Zagorsky said high rents are following increases in mortgage, interest and utility rates.
“People who would have been purchasing otherwise, are now staying renters, puts more competition, the few rentals available there is, more people competing for them,” Zagorsky said.
“You are also seeing more people living together in rentals, multi-generational families. Just trying to find ways to keep housing affordable in San Diego,” Zagorsky continued.
Zagorsky points to a shortage in housing, especially in North County.
CoStar said Solana Beach, Del Mar, plus Encinitas has the most expensive rent, averaging $3,552 a month. They blame the lack of rentals.
“I’m waiting to see the laws that have gone into effect that have really reduced the amount of short-term rentals available if that’s going to increase the amount of long-term rentals available which will help bring rental pricing back down, that hasn’t really come into factor yet,” Zagorsky said.
Zagorsky said there is some rent softening or slight decreases in further North County and East County.
However, not enough to get people excited, Zagorsky added.
