Apartments for Rent in Santa Maria, CA - Home Rentals | realtor.com® (2024)

FAQs

Why are rents high in California? ›

Higher interest rates mean significantly larger monthly mortgage payments for landlords, a financial pressure that often finds its way to tenants in the form of higher rents. Property owners, facing tighter margins, have little choice but to adjust rental prices upwards to maintain their investments' viability.

The law imposes a statewide rent cap, limiting annual rent increases to 5% of the current rent plus the local rate of inflation, or 10% of the current rent, whichever is lower.

(NerdWallet) – An ongoing boom in apartment construction has helped slow down rental inflation — but renters shouldn't expect prices to drop dramatically from their pandemic-padded highs. That means affordability will remain the dominant narrative in rental housing in 2024.

Declining rents in major California cities

Oakland and Sacramento saw the most significant drops, with rental rates falling by 9.1 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively. Other cities such as Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego and Long Beach also saw declines, albeit to a lesser extent.

Topping the list for least affordable was Newport Beach in Orange County where the median home price is $3.23 million and the median income is $127,353. That is a home price-to-income ratio of 25.4. Palo Alto in Santa Clara County was second on the list.

Housing, transportation, food, utilities and taxes are the biggest factors driving the state's higher cost of living. Lack of affordable housing is one of the state's most pressing challenges.

According to a recent report by the rental platform Zumper, several major California cities have seen a decline in rental rates, despite the national upward trajectory.

Several factors have together caused constraints on the construction of new housing: density restrictions (e.g. single-family zoning) and high land cost conspire to keep land and housing prices high; community involvement in the permitting process allows current residents who oppose new construction (often referred to ...

What city has the highest rent in the USA? ›

New York tops the list with an average monthly cost of $4,200 for a one-bedroom apartment. Not only is it expensive, but due to high demand, living in the Big Apple can be competitive.