Where in California are rents falling the fastest?

“Rent Watch” tracks what’s happening at the intersection of landlords and tenants – who is paying what and where.

Buzz: Rents were falling in nine of 16 big California cities this summer.

Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked into ApartmentList’s rent tracker for August for 100 large US cities, including 16 in California.

Topline

Oakland not only had the state’s largest rent decline in the past year – off 8.8% – the drop was also the nation’s biggest slip.

This doesn’t mean Oakland rents are cheap, at least on a national scale. Its landlords wanted $1,793 for a one-bedroom unit (16th highest rent among the 100 US cities) and $2,153 for two bedrooms (No. 17).

What’s down

Renters were winners in these California cities …

San Diego: Overall rents down 3.8% in year (No. 8 of the 100) with $1,982 median charged for 1-bedroom units (No. 11) and $2,484 2-bedroom (No. 7).

Chula Vista: Off 3.6% in year (No. 9) with $1,730 1-bedroom (No. 17) and $2,264 2-bedroom (No. 15).

Long Beach: Off 2.2% in year (No. 24) with $1,577 1-bedroom (No. 22) and $1,931 2-bedroom (No. 21).

Los Angeles: Off 2% in year (No. 26) with $1,885 1-bedroom (No. 15) and $2,404 2-bedroom (No. 12).

Riverside: Off 1.1% in year (No. 36) with $1,491 1-bedroom (No. 26) and $1,791 2-bedroom (No. 25).

Santa Ana: Off 0.9% in year (No. 39) with $1,919 1-bedroom (No. 14) and $2,263 2-bedroom (No. 16).

Fremont: Off 0.9% in year (No. 39) with $2,297 1-bedroom (No. 8) and $2,783 2-bedroom (No. 5).

San Francisco: Off 0.5% in year (No. 43) with $2,752 1-bedroom (No. 1) and $3,262 2-bedroom (No. 1).

What’s up

Tenants paid up in these cities …

Fresno: Rents overall rose 2.5% in the year (No. 86 for tenants out of the 100) with $1,082 1-bedroom (No. 73) and $1,335 2-bedroom (No. 70).

San Jose: Up 1.9% in a year (No. 81) with $2,503 1-bedroom (No. 3) and $2,969 2-bedroom (No. 4).

Moreno Valley: Up 1.5% in a year (No. 74) with $1,611 1-bedroom (No. 21) and $1,832 2-bedroom (No. 23).

Anaheim: Up 1.3% in a year (No. 67) with $1,969 1-bedroom (No. 12) and $2,429 2-bedroom (No. 11).

Sacramento: Up 1% in a year (No. 63) with $1,400 1-bedroom (No. 37) and $1,769 2-bedroom (No. 27).

Santa Clarita: Up 0.5% in year (No. 57) with $2,006 1-bedroom (No. 10) and $2,441 2-bedroom (No. 9).

Irvine: Flat in a year (No. 52) with $2,553 1-bedroom (No. 2) and $3,130 2-bedroom (No. 2).

Bottom line

These stats suggest that bargain-minded California renters can find relative deals in certain cities. A wave of new apartment complexes opening has created competition among landlords to fill empty units.

A shaky economy with elevated unemployment is also easing demand for rentals. That nudges landlords to either cut rents, offer other incentives or raise prices modestly.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com