REAL ESTATE KEEPS CALIFORNIA MARKET MOVING FORWARD
In their latest outlook for the state and the nation, researchers at UCLA Anderson Forecast credit the run-up in the real-estate market for “keeping the California economy moving forward” by creating wealth that has encouraged consumer spending. And they say that home prices probably haven’t peaked.
WASHINGTON - The multifamily sector of the housing market performed well in the first quarter of 2005 and is expected to continue to improve, according to the latest Multifamily Market Index (MMI), which was released today by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Compared to last year's first quarter, multifamily starts were up in all sectors including for-sale, affordable rentals and market rate rentals. Occupancy levels also increased in every class of rental apartments as did calls from prospective renters, asking rents and effective rents.
CALIFORNIA HOUSING STARTS EXPECTED TO MATCH RECORD LEVELS IN 2005
Despite a rainy first quarter, housing starts in the Golden State are expected to reach the record levels recorded in 2004, according to a recent report by the California Building Industry Association (CBIA). Housing starts totaled 66,075 during the first four months of 2005, a 2.4 percent decrease compared with the same period one year earlier. In April, more than 17,000 new housing units were started throughout California ; single-family units accounted for nearly 80 percent of the starts.
TIGHT APARTMENT MARKET
Orange County tenants are feeling pinched by rising rents and few empty apartments. That makes in increasingly harder to find desirable rentals at reasonable prices.
Some rental facts:
- Rents at O.C.’s largest complexes: $1347, up 4.9 percent in a year and 21 percent since 2000.
- l Southern California rents: $1,445 in Los Angeles, up 6.7 percent; $1,022 in the Inland Empire, up 6.6 percent.
- Vacancies: 4.9 percent vs. 5.3 a year ago.
- Low vacancy cities (under 3 percent): Laguna Niguel and Rancho Santa Margarita.
- Landlords offering concessions: 11.9 percent, lowest rate in four years.
- Average concession amount: 6.6 percent.
LOCAL INFLATION OUTSTRIPS NATIONAL RATE
Consumer prices continued to rise much faster in Southern California than elsewhere in the nation last month, according to a government report, putting the region on course for what could be its worst bout of inflation in 15 years.
The Labor Dept. said its Consumer Price Index for Orange, Los Angeles and Riverside counties rose at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in May, Pushed up by energy prices as well as housing costs.