Santa Monica Rents Decline 10.3% in 6 Months Since the Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown Began

Have you noticed more lawn signs than last year advertising apartments for rent? Well, you could be seeing a trend. Santa Monica rents have decreased over 10% since the Coronavirus lockdown began on March 19, 2020. This according to the website, Insurify.com.

"A recent study found that over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, California cities experienced some of the greatest drops in rent prices in the nation," wrote Emily Leff, a spokesman for Insurify, in a press release.

"Between March and September of 2020, Santa Monica's rents decreased by 10.3% (it is 15th on the list of 20 cities with the greatest rent reductions during the pandemic). As of September 2020, the average cost of rent for a 2-Bedroom unit in Santa Monica is $2,432. The year over year change in rent (from 2019-2020) is -11.1%," she writes.

"San Francisco, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Foster City, Santa Monica, San Jose, and Berkeley were ten of the top 20 cities with the greatest decrease in rent between March and September 2020 -- these California cities reduced rent prices by 13 percent on average."

"Researchers at Insurify analyzed rent price data from Apartment List between March and September 2020 to determine the cities that reduced the price of rent the most during the pandemic," writes Leff.

The full study and list of cities with the greatest pandemic rent drops may be found at:

https://insurify.com/insights/cities-with-the-greatest-pandemic-rent-price-drops/

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"The data for these statistics come from Apartment List's monthly rent estimates. Their rent estimates both encapsulate historical rent data and current trends." says Leff

"Apartment List ....starts with fully representative median rent statistics for recent movers taken from the Census Bureau American Community Survey. We then extrapolate this data forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. Growth rates are calculated using a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods in order to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country."

A more detailed explanation of their methodology can additionally be found at: https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/rent-estimate-methodology