This LA community saw the biggest rent increase in March

Where are rents growing fastest in Los Angeles? It’s not Los Feliz, or Downtown L.A., or Koreatown.

It is…Santa Clarita.

The city in the San Fernando Valley has the fastest growing year-over-rents in the Greater L.A. metro area, according to an Apartment List study, first reported by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

Rents ticked up 3.1 percent in March compared to the same time last year, nearly three times the state average of 1.1 percent.

Strong rent growth is likely factoring into big trades in Santa Clarita.

The city saw L.A. County’s most expensive multifamily trade of the last year in September when IMT Capital paid $167 million for the 510-unit Stevenson Ranch development.

Santa Clarita is also home to one of the largest residential projects in the L.A. area. The 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project broke ground early last year, a few months after receiving final approvals. The 15,000-acre project has been in the works since the 1980s.

Median rents in Santa Clarita were $2,030 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,600 for a two-bedroom apartment. But those aren’t the most expensive in Southern California. That distinction goes to Irvine, where a two-bedroom apartment rents for $2,670.

The lowest rents in the area can be found not far from Santa Clarita in Lancaster — a two bedroom apartment there goes for just $1,580 per month, a thousand dollars less than in Santa Clarita. [San Fernando Valley Business Journal] — Dennis Lynch