Surf City apartment rents dip 5%

October 22nd, 2009, 12:00 pm · 1 Comment · posted by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter

Huntington Beach apartment rents fell by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter compared to last year, with the average rent at $1,422 a month, according to RealFacts, a Northern California research firm that analyzes big apartment complexes.

Average occupancy in the city was at 94.9%, a drop of 0.7%.

Huntington Beach has 27 apartment communities, the 5th most in the county behind Anaheim (75), Irvine (61), Santa Ana (40), Fullerton (37) and Tustin (29).

Here are average rents for some other O.C. cities:

Fountain Valley: $1,396

Newport Beach: $1,842

Costa Mesa: $1,579

Irvine: $1,779

Apartment rents averaged $1,523 a month in Orange County in the 3rd quarter, down 5%, RealFacts said, and occupancy averaged 93.4%, down 1.4%.

I know there are strong feelings on either side: Is this a better time to buy or rent? Take the poll and let us know the reason in the comments.

Right now, it's better to:

Latest on homes on the market:

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Surf City home "mood ring"

For the 22 business days ending January 8 -- DataQuick's freshest stats -- we tap into Surf City's homebuying mood with how local ZIPs fare vs. a year ago! ZIPs with GAINING median prices and sales are GREEN while MIXED trends are YELLOW and FALLING prices and sales are RED!

ZIP	Price	Ch.	Sold	Ch.
92646	$610,000	+6%	38	+9%
92647	$493,500	-1%	28	+8%
92648	$678,500	-16%	34	+17%
92649	$935,000	+8%	20	-17%

Overall O.C. home trends are HERE!

OC Real Estate Genius says:

October 22, 2009 at 1:34 pm

IF
1) you can comfortably afford the payments
AND
2) you are willing to commit to living in a home for at least the next decade
AND
3) you want to establish roots in a community
AND
4) you view your home *not* as an investment, but as a place to live that may or may not give a positive ROI in the long run

THEN
Now is as good a time as any to buy

ELSE
Rent

Orange County Register