SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Apartment construction is set to break records this year nationwide as more than half a million new rentals hit the market. CBS 8 takes a closer look at what this means for San Diego County.
New apartment construction nationwide is roaring along at an unprecedented rate, with developers on track to complete more than 518,000 rental units by the end of 2024, a historic high and a 9% increase from 2023, according to Rent Cafe, an apartment search website.
“We really seeing it as one where supply is really crucial to correcting the root cause of the problem, and that is the housing shortage,” said Doug Ressler, Manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix, which partnered with Rent Cafe on the new study.
According to Ressler, this boom in construction really started 3 years ago when interest rates and costs were still fairly low, but as inflation, higher interest rates, and other costs dominate the current landscape, we may see a drop off in a few years.
“Insurance continues to be a very large expense item, both for multi-family market rate as well as affordability, so the problem is how do you accommodate those kinds of expenses and build something that’s affordable,” said Ressler.
Their analysis reveals that San Diego County is set to welcome 3,226 new rental units by the end of the year with 2,016 of those in the City of San Diego, 369 in Oceanside, and 414 in Chula Vista.
“We are in a housing crisis whether it’s renting or buying a new home, there’s not enough supply,” said Chula Vista's Mayor John McCann, who told CBS 8 they've streamlined the process of applying for building permits.
“Instead of having to bring your plans down to the city, we’ve tried to put everything online, making sure that it’s more efficient for our staff and more efficient for the people building homes,” said Mayor McCann.
Rent Café’s projections on completed apartments show a slowdown over the next five years in big cities like Chula Vista and San Diego, compared to the last five years, but Escondido is expected to buck this trend with a 66% increase in new apartment construction.
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