Orange County rents grew considerably faster at the start of 2025, compared with what apartment seekers found a year earlier.
My trusty spreadsheet reviewed rent stats from ApartmentList, which showed Orange County rents rose 1% in the first three months of the year to a median $2,546 for a typical unit. That jump is more than double the 0.4% increase in the same period in 2024. ApartmentList combines pricing patterns from its rental listings with government rent-cost data to create its rent indexes.
Rents rose as a brief apartment building boom cooled and demand grew. Unaffordable prices to buy housing also are keeping wannabe homeowners as tenants. Slow but steady job creation is creating new households. And then there are the families who lost homes in January’s Los Angeles wildfires seeking temporary places to live.
ApartmentList tracked 15 of the most-populous cities in Orange County and 12 had either larger rent hikes or smaller dips. Huntington Beach and Brea had early 2025’s largest increases.
Surf City rents rose 2.5% in the year’s first three months to $2,547 vs. a 0.3% rise at 2024’s start. Brea was up 2.5% to $2,545 vs. a 0.6% rise in 2024.
The biggest dip was in Laguna Niguel, off 3.3% in early 2025 to $2,999 vs. a 0.9% fall to start 2024.
Rents in other Orange County communities, ranked by their 2025 start …
Newport Beach: Up 2.3% in 2025’s first three months to $3,296 – Orange County’s priciest spot – compared to the 3% rise to start 2024.
Fullerton: Up 2.2% in early 2025 to $2,374 vs. 1.1% last year.
San Clemente: Up 2.1% in early 2025 to $2,548 vs. 0.2% rise in 2024.
Costa Mesa: Up 1.9% in early 2025 to $2,575 vs. 0.6% increase last year.
Orange: Up 1.8% in early 2025 to $2,551 vs. 1.8% rise in 2024.
Anaheim: Up 1.8% in early 2025 to $2,312 vs. a 1.2% decrease last year.
Rancho Santa Margarita: Up 1.8% in early 2025 to $2,730 vs. 0.7% fall in 2024.
Lake Forest: Up 1.7% in early 2025 to $3,205 vs. 1.9% fall in 2024.
Aliso Viejo: Up 0.9% in early 2025 to $3,005 vs. 0.4% decrease last year.
Santa Ana: Up 0.5% in early 2025 to $2,193 – Orange County’s cheapest spot – vs. 1.8% fall in 2024.
Irvine: Off 0.2% in early 2025 to $3,044 vs. 0.5% decrease last year.
Mission Viejo: Off 0.3% in early 2025 to $2,924 vs. 1.7% rise in 2024.
PS: Looking across California, rents are up 1.7% in early 2025 to $1,884 compared to a 0.8% bump last year. Nationally, rents rose 0.8% to open 2025 to $1,216 after a 0.6% dip to start last year.
Jonathan Lansner is business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com