Orange County Multifamily Rent Growth Slowing Considerably
Rent growth continues in Orange County, California — but at a slower pace. A Colliers report finds that the average cost per month for a multifamily unit was $2,736 in the first quarter, up marginally from the $2,707 posted in the same period a year ago, according to a market report from Colliers.
The annual growth over the past two years has averaged just 3.4 percent compared with the whopping 12.5 percent seen in 2021 and 2022.
During the first quarter, rent growth was the strongest in the Central OC East submarket (2.3 percent), followed by Costa Mesa (two percent).
Something else that remained stable was occupancy, which at 95.9 percent was unchanged year-over-year.
Demand, on the other hand, was sluggish, coming in at just 463 units, down from the 559 seen at the end of the first quarter of 2025. Also, it was about half of the supply that came online (936 units).
That said, Orange County multifamily sales were solid, which came in at $143 million, up 32 percent. Also, average prices per unit rose by 1.3 percent to $429,078.
While supply did spike in the first quarter, construction eased. There were just 5,573 units underway compared with the 7,272 units seen a year ago.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM