By Jorge Casuso

March 27, 2025 -- Santa Monica rents rose for the third straight month in March and have now increased by 3.2 percent over the past 12 months, according to Apartment List's monthly report released Thursday.

With a median rent increase of 1.2 percent this month, Santa Monica matched the total number of monthly increases in all of last year, based on listings posted on the popular website.

The rise in rents could be fueled in part by the wildfires that ravished the Los Angeles region and displaced residents in neighboring Pacific Palisades, the website's researchers said.

"The fires are estimated to have destroyed nearly 12 thousand homes, causing a significant shock to the local housing market as those who have been displaced look for new homes," researchers wrote.

And while an emergency order prohibiting rent gouging caps rent increases at 10 percent, "the fires could still have a meaningful impact on rent prices in a market where metro-wide rent growth had previously been essentially flat."

Santa Monica's 3.2 percent rent growth over the past year has outpaced both California's 1.7 percent increase and the nation's -0.4 percent dip, according to the popular rental website.

The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the beach city is currently $2,420, while a two-bedroom goes for a median rent of $2,901, according to the report.

Santa Monica's median rent of $2,556 is 16 percent higher than $2,203 median for the Los Angeles metro area, which includes the 26 cities in Los Angeles and Orange counties included in the Apartment List database.

Calabasas is currently the most expensive city, with a median rent of $3,443, while Long Beach is the metro’s most affordable, with a median rent of $1,746.

The overall median rent in the City of Los Angeles stands at $2,091, with a one-bedroom apartment going for a median rent of $1,870 a month and a two bedroom for $2,385.

The metro's fastest annual rent growth is taking place in Calabasas (5.9%) while the slowest is in Laguna Niguel (-2.5%).

Meanwhile, national rents inched up 0.6 percent in March -- from $1,376 to $1,384 -- reflecting a pattern that typically sees prices dip in fall and winter, then rise during spring and summer.

"Demand tends to bounce back in the new year, gradually ramping up to peak season activity in the late spring and early summer," Apartment List researchers wrote.

"In keeping with that pattern, we saw a return to positive rent growth in February, which has now been followed by a slightly larger monthly increase in March."

However, researchers note that this winter "marks the third consecutive winter in which seasonal discounts have been notably sharper than the pre-pandemic norm."

"As an influx of new supply has collided with softer demand over the past two and a half years, the national median rent has gradually dipped," researchers wrote.

The report notes that "in recent months, there are signs that a return to positive growth is on the horizon" but adds that the growth "is likely to be modest."

The report -- based on the site's millions of listings -- "aims to identify transacted rent prices, as opposed to the listed rent prices." For the report click here