It’s more expensive to rent in Westwood than San Francisco: report

When it comes to renting in the U.S., Manhattan is still the king of high-priced apartments, but Los Angeles is an aspiring queen.

With an average of $4,883 per month, the 90024 zip code of Westwood, an L.A. neighborhood, ranked as the third-most expensive place to rent in the country, according to a new analysis by RentCafe.

The Westside L.A. zip, which encompasses the University of California at Los Angeles, surpassed all other zip codes in California, including San Francisco, and 24 zip codes in Manhattan.

Rents in the 90024 area increased 3.2 percent since last year, causing the zip code to move up 61 spots on this year’s ranking.

Manhattan neighborhoods dominated most of the ranking, with more than half of the country’s most expensive zip codes based in the New York borough. Five out of the 50 zip codes are in California.

RentCafe, an apartment search website, compiled the ranking by comparing average apartment rents for all zip codes in 130 major U.S. markets from data firm Yardi Matrix during July 2017 – July 2018. RentCafe’s figures aggregated rents for all-sized apartments.

In New York, the 10282 zip code, representing Rockefeller and Battery parks, ranked first place with an average rent of $5,657 per month. That’s actually 1.8 percent lower than what was recorded last July, according to the new survey.

Following those areas was another Manhattan zip, 10013, with $5,226 per month. The lower Manhattan region saw rent increase 10.6 percent year over year, jumping six slots since last year’s list.

Rounding out the top five were 90024 in Westwood, and 10065 and 10023, also found in Manhattan.

In Southern California, renters continued to face growing prices as zip codes encompassing Beverly Grove, Santa Monica, Marina del Rey and Playa Vista all posted gains.

The Beverly Grove zip code of 90048 ranked 12th on the list, following Westwood and San Francisco, which placed No. 6. Meanwhile, the zip code that includes Playa Vista — ground-zero for Silicon Beach — outranked one in Santa Monica.

While RentCafe’s analysis captured the broader rent picture for all sizes of apartments, in L.A. Westwood is not the most-expensive neighborhood to rent a one-bedroom apartment, according to a survey by Zumper, the real estate site. Zumper found that the average rent for a one-bedroom in Westwood, as of June, was $2,650, the sixth-highest in L.A. Santa Monica, at $2,900 a month, and Marina del Rey, at $2,800, were the most-expensive spots to rent, on average.

Affordability has become a growing concern for Californians, where there are more homes priced above $1 million than anywhere in the country. A July study by data firm LendingTree revealed that more than 17 percent of homes in L.A. are valued over $1 million, with the median value of a single-family home at $622,000.