Across the nation, major cities continue to see a significant influx of residents, creating a pressing need for more housing. This holds true for cities in Southern California which have already seen several thousand units developed over the course of 2022.
According to RentCafe’s Annual Apartment Construction Report, cities across the nation are seeing an increase in development with 420,000 new apartment units projected to be completed by the end of this year. Historically, apartment development has remained fairly stable as apartment markets have not surpassed 400,000 in the past 50 years, the report shows.
“The construction industry is finally returning to pre-pandemic levels of activity but is still being hampered by three familiar challenges: labor shortages; material costs and availability; and supply chain issues,” said Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, a sister site to RentCafe.
In fact, many of these apartment units are being developed throughout the state of California. According to the Rentcafe report, more than 30,000 apartments, or about seven percent of the total pipeline, are expected to open in California.
Many of these apartments can be found throughout the state’s larger cities, including major Southern California cities like Los Angeles and San Diego. For instance, Los Angeles saw 2,204 residential units constructed in the first half of 2022.
In the Greater Los Angeles area – consisting of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Anaheim – 11,536 units have been built. According to the report, the city’s in the Greater Los Angeles area that saw the most development were Los Angeles, Long Beach and South Gate, which saw 6,456 units, 770 units and 304 units, respectively.
San Diego has seen more steady construction overall, according to the report, placing third in the state among all apartment markets in terms of overall growth. In the first half of 2022, San Diego reported 1,427 new units. In the larger metro – which consists of San Diego, Chula Vista and Carlsbad – there has been approximately 3,937 units developed so far in 2022.
Still construction in these markets continues with more apartments currently planned for the area.
In Los Angeles, a 65-year old Toyota dealership at 6000 W. Hollywood Boulevard faces potential to be redeveloped with 350 apartment units. An application for the 501,460 square foot development was submitted to the City of Los Angeles several weeks back by the Sullivan family, which owns several auto dealerships throughout the region.
Additionally, in late August, Cityview, a local development company, submitted an application to the City for a 441-unit apartment building located at 6136 W. Manchester Avenue. Overall, plans for the site include an eight story building with six live-work units, 125 studio units, 190 one-bedroom units and 120 two-bedroom units.
While San Diego has seen less project proposals comparatively, the region still continues to see a significant flow of developments in the pipeline. Earlier this month, Hines and USAA Real Estate broke ground on a project that will bring 930 rental units to the Mission Valley neighborhood. The project is referred to as Riverwalk San Diego and will soon take shape along Friar Road.
