L.A. County rents are finally dropping, led by smaller apartments, giving local renters a rare and much-needed break on housing costs.
Los Angeles County residents are finally catching a small break after years of soaring housing costs—rents and housing prices are both down, according to the Q3 2026 Rental Report from Realtor.com®.
In the third quarter of 2026, the median asking rent across L.A. County fell to $2,554 per month—down $96, or 3.6%, from the same period a year ago. In the city of Los Angeles, the median asking rent fell $92, or 3.3%, year over year to $2,708 per month.
While units of all sizes saw rent decreases, smaller apartments and homes saw the greatest decreases. The median asking rent for 0- to 2-bedroom units fell to $2,239 this past quarter, down $88 (3.8%) year over year and 14.7% from peak levels.
Meanwhile, larger 3+ bedroom units fell $70, or 1.9%, year over year to $3,571, an 11.3% decrease from peak levels.
Even so, affordability in Los Angeles remains a struggle. To spend no more than the recommended 30% of income on housing, a city resident would need to make $108,320 a year. That’s 22.1% higher than the city's estimated median household income of $88,730.
Housing shortages hurt renters
Though rents dipped briefly during the COVID-19 pandemic, asking prices quickly rebounded to historic highs, peaking in summer 2022.
A Regional Housing Needs Assessment released by UCLA and Cal State-Northridge in 2021 set a goal of 456,643 new housing units for the city by 2029. To meet that goal, the city would need to produce about 57,000 new housing units each year.
Current estimates show L.A. is well below that number.
Earlier this year, the metro received a failing grade in the Realtor.com Metro Report Cards and the lowest marks among the 100 largest U.S. metros for both affordability and homebuilding.
However, a few recent initiatives have made a dent in the city’s housing shortage.
In 2024, Mayor Karen Bass signed Executive Directive 1, which fast-tracks affordable housing in the city. Under the directive, 47,000 housing units are currently in the works.
And in 2025, the city passed the Citywide Housing Incentive Program to promote affordable housing development near transit and workplaces and along major corridors. Under the program, construction has begun on 28,500 new homes, 40% of which are designated as affordable.
Accessory dwelling units have also surged across L.A. County after the city eased construction restrictions. L.A. must approve or deny permits for these units, sometimes called "granny units," within 60 days, making ADU construction much more streamlined than conventional new-construction projects.
Jacob Schachner, an assistant professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, previously told Realtor.com that the ADU initiative was merely a band-aid.
"Even if the trend is moving in the right direction, the scale of the gap between where we are and where we need to be in terms of the regional goals is so vast that the ADU impact is ultimately a drop in the bucket," he said at the time.
To spend no more than the recommended 30% of income on housing, a city resident would need to make $108,320 a year—22.1% higher than the city's estimated median household income of $88,730. (File photo) (Getty Images) No real relief yet
While rent prices are slowly declining, it's not yet providing real relief, says Nick Panize, president of Westgate Capital Ventures.
"L.A. is still an extremely expensive rental market, and a few percentage point reduction in rent doesn't really move the needle when tenants are already spending such a large portion of their income on housing and increased cost of living across the board,” he says.
Panize adds that multifamily property owners are dealing with rising insurance and property taxes.
"So there's only so much room for rents to come down. I think renters have a little more negotiating power today than they did a couple of years ago, but affordability is still a major issue across L.A.," he says.
L.A. real estate watchers are no doubt paying attention to the upcoming mayoral election, which pits Bass against City Councilmember Nithya Raman. Both candidates are Democrats and have made housing affordability a key part of their campaigns.
Raman, who has championed increased rental assistance and stronger tenant protections, is leading Bass in all major polls but one.