Pasadena Rentals Prices Still Increasing, According to City Figures

Housing and Community Services Director William Huang released Pasadena’s current rental data in response to a City Council request last Monday, March 20, for an update on the City’s Section 8 program.

Apartment rentals in Pasadena now average $1,087 per month for one-person units and $1,315 for one-bedroom two-person units, data collated by the City’s Department of Housing and Community Services show. For two-bedroom units, the average rent is $1,545, and for three bedrooms, $2,079.

His report also showed rentals in Pasadena have increased between two and 12 percent in 2016, and between two and six percent in 2015 and in 2014.

In September last year, Pasadena surpassed Los Angeles as the city with the most expensive rents within the greater L.A. metropolitan area, which some local experts say is due to Pasadena’s prime location and a housing shortage in the area.

A Los Angeles Rent Report released that month said Pasadena was at first place when it comes to both rent growth and rent costs. That month, a two-bedroom apartment in Pasadena was renting at an average $2,630 while a one-bedroom unit was at around $2,060. Although Pasadena had the highest median rents, the report said certain neighborhoods in the Southland, such Venice Beach, were asking considerably more.

In its recent Rent Trend Data for Pasadena, Rent Jungle said the average apartment rent over the past six months has decreased -6.4 percent, or by $159. One-bedroom units were renting for $2,214 in September 2016 and for an average of $2,140 as of February 2017, the report said.

Among neighborhoods in Pasadena, the most expensive apartments were in South Arroyo, North East, and West Central as of February. The cheapest Pasadena neighborhoods to rent apartments were at North Central, East Central, and South.

The City’s Housing and Community Services Department accepted Section 8 program applications between October 15 and November 1, 2014.

A map provided by Huang last week showed project based and non-project housing units throughout the city. In district 1 there are 82 locations and 174 units, in district 2 there are 106 locations with 250 units, in district 3 there are 96 locations and 260 units, in district 4 there are 27 locations and 25 units, in district 5 there are 100 locations and 224 units, in district 6 there are 9 locations and 18 units and in district 7 there are 27 locations and 36 units for a total of 569 housing locations and 1,128 units throughout the city.   And there are 3 project based, Section 8 housing units in Pasadena with 176 units, according to Huang’s map.