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At least 24 people have died and thousands of structures have been destroyed in the fires that continue to burn in Southern California. There are at least 105,000 under mandatory evacuation orders, and 87,000 more have been issued evacuation warnings.
With so many people displaced, rentals are being scooped up—and despite laws aimed at preventing price gouging, costs are at a premium.
The New York Times found listings in various Los Angeles neighborhoods with massive price jumps, from 15 percent in Century City to 64 percent in Venice. One real estate agent told the outlet, “People [are] taking advantage of this. It’s horrendous.”
Inside Edition journalist Lisa Guerrero found this five-bedroom in Santa Monica, which was listed on January 10 at $28,000 a month (the fires started on January 7). Its last listing price was $12,500 in February 2024. Nationwide, rental prices increased by about 3.3% from October 2023 to October 2024.
According to this property’s history, it was listed at $12,000 last year. Yesterday it was listed at $28,000. Price gouging? What’s up Trulia?? www.trulia.com/home/1812-na…
— Lisa Guerrero (@lisaguerrero.bsky.social) January 11, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Experts told MarketWatch that rents in L.A. could increase by 8% to 12%, which is not too far off from the state’s anti-price gouging laws —the state of emergency declaration says prices can’t increase more than 10% compared to pre-disaster prices, including on housing.
“Doubling of growth or tripling of rent growth is absolutely possible,” Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic, told MarketWatch.
Related: Is One Company to Blame for Soaring Rental Prices in the U.S.?
The law hasn’t stopped some rental listings from skyrocketing well above the 10% cap, however.
The Los Angeles Times highlighted fire victims competing for rentals, with prices increasing almost 30% in just a few days. One listing had 10,000 views on Redfin in just one hour. If you don’t spend a lot of time looking at listings, that is a lot.
LAist found several listings that appear to show major price hikes after the fires began. When contacting the realtors to ask if they were aware of the law preventing these kinds of increases, one texted back: “Supply & demand.”
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