Rents in Santa Monica have fallen faster than in any other city in the Los Angeles metro area over the past year, dropping 8.1% annually as of April 2026, according to the latest data from several sources — a dramatic reversal from just 12 months ago, when a devastating wildfire was pushing Westside rents sharply higher.
Santa Monica posted the steepest year-over-year rent decline among all 27 cities tracked in the Los Angeles metro by Apartment List, falling 8.1% in the company's April 2026 report. Zumper's listing-based data showed an even sharper drop of 12% year over year as of February 2026. RentCafe recorded a more modest 0.4% annual decline for larger buildings.
By contrast, Los Angeles County rents were virtually unchanged year over year — up just 0.03% according to RentCafe and down 0.1% according to CoStar's fourth-quarter 2025 multifamily report. California statewide rents edged up 1.1% over the same period, according to RentCafe. According to Apartment List, the metro-wide annual rent decrease was 1.4%, while California rents rose 0.4% and national rents fell 1.7% over the same period.
The USC Lusk Center's Casden Multifamily Forecast, released Dec. 3, 2025, projected Los Angeles County rents would grow just 0.64% annually through October 2027.
The city's median rent now stands at $2,328 per month, down from roughly $2,527 a year ago. Among the 28 cities tracked by Apartment List in the LA metro, no city has seen a steeper decline.
"Santa Monica's rent growth over the past year has fallen behind both the state and national averages," Apartment List noted in its April report.
The decline marks a sharp turn from early 2025, when the January Palisades Fire — which destroyed more than 6,800 structures in adjacent Pacific Palisades and displaced tens of thousands of residents — sent a demand shock through the Westside rental market. In the months that followed, Santa Monica posted its first sustained rent increases since 2022, with Apartment List recording a median of $2,527 and year-over-year growth of 2.9% as of March 2025.
That surge proved short-lived. By July 2025, the market had recorded three consecutive monthly declines. By October, the median had slipped to $2,478. The current annual decline of 8.1% reflects a market that has moved decisively in the opposite direction.
The correction is visible across unit sizes tracked consistently by Apartment List. One-bedroom apartments have fallen from a median of $2,392 in March 2025 to $2,203 today — a year-over-year decline consistent with the 8.1% drop Apartment List recorded citywide. Two-bedroom units have declined from $2,867 to $2,641 over the same period. The overall median has slipped from $2,527 to $2,328, a year-over-year loss of nearly $200 per month.
Despite the sustained pullback, Santa Monica remains among the most expensive rental markets in Southern California. The city's median rent of $2,328 sits 7% above the LA metro-wide median of $2,176. Newport Beach leads the metro as its most expensive city at $3,484 per month, while Long Beach remains the most affordable at $1,770.
So far in 2026, Santa Monica rents have fallen 2.0% through March — a markedly different trajectory from the same period last year, when rents rose 2.1% in the first three months of 2025.
The current downturn is part of a longer pattern. After surging more than 20% cumulatively in 2021 and 2022 on pandemic-era demand, Santa Monica has now recorded three straight years of annual rent declines according to Apartment List. Rents fell 5.9% in 2023, 1.1% in 2024, and are now tracking far steeper losses in 2026.
Analysts point to a combination of factors intensifying the decline locally: an influx of new multifamily housing supply, strict rent control regulations, and ongoing population outflows from the city. Studios and one-bedrooms — unit types most exposed to competition from new inventory — are showing the largest percentage drops.