By Jorge Casuso

March 28, 2023 -- Santa Monica rents rose for the first time in seven months, as the national rental market appears to be returning to conditions before the coronavirus shutdown, according to Apartment List's latest monthly report released Tuesday.

The median rent in Santa Monica rose 1 percent in March, compared to a 0.5 percent increase nationally, according to data compiled from listings on the popular rental website.

Over the past 12 months, rents in Santa Monica have increased by 3.4 percent, despite a six-month stretch of monthly declines, according to the report. That compares with 0.6 percent growth in the greater Los Angeles area.

"Price growth this month is similar to that of March 2018 and March 2019, and apartment occupancy is also normalizing," Apartment List researchers wrote.

"If the typical seasonal patterns hold, prices should continue to rise for the next several months; but a healthier supply-and-demand balance should prevent the runaway rent inflation that we saw during 2021 and 2022."

Santa Monica rents currently stand at $2,061 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,568 for a two-bedroom, for an average median rent of $2,180 -- a 0.7 increase since the start of the pandemic in March 2020

That's also 4.6 percent more than the $2,085 average median rent for the 26 cities in the wider Los Angeles metro area analyzed in the Apartment List report.

Marina del Rey continues to be by far the priciest area to rent, with a median rent of $4,635, while Long Beach is the metro’s most affordable city, with a median rent of $1,649.

Glendale is seeing the fastest annual rent growth in the metro area at 5 percent, while the slowest is Costa Mesa, where rens have fallen -4.1 percent over the past 12 months.

Rents increased in March in 78 of the nation’s 100 largest cities, up from 62 cities that saw prices rise last month, according to the report.

Despite the rent increases, rent growth nationwide is continuing to decelerate year-over-year, and now stands at 2.6 percent, its lowest level since April 2021.

"Year-over-year growth is now pacing slightly below the average rate from 2018 to 2019 (2.8 percent), and is likely to decline even further in the months ahead," according o the report.

Already, 28 of the top 100 cities are logging negative year-over-year growth, up from 25 cities last month.

"Even as rent growth has turned positive again, we continue to see easing on the supply side of the market," researchers wrote.

The vacancy rate has risen to pre-pandemic levels and "a record number of multi-family apartment units (are) currently under construction," according to the report.

"We expect that supply constraints will continue to soften," the report said. "2023 could be the first time since the early stages of the pandemic that we see property owners competing for renters, rather than the other way around."

Apartment List Rent Report data is drawn monthly from the millions of listings on the site, according to the website.

The report calculates one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents and "aims to identify transacted rent prices, as opposed to the listed rent prices." To view the full report click here.