Putting aside the loony-tunes crowd that governs us from Sacramento, and that is evidently bound and determined to banrupt California, there is another factor at work in the decline of la-la land, that we commented on in the past, that has reared its head: the cost of rental housing. In the past we had occasion to comment on the still sky-high prices of California homes, particularly in areas where people want to live. Now, here comes a dispatch from the Economics Roundtable, a nonprofit economics group, to the effect that Los Angeles area rentals are also way up there, causing serious problems to a large segment of the population. Marla Dickerson, The Rent Is Too Darn High for Many Angelenos, L.A. Times, March 3, 2012 – click here. In the meantime, incomes are declining.
According to this report, “More than 60% of Angelenos who rent their dwellings are considered ‘rent burdened,’ meaning they pay more than 30% of their income in rent.”[O]ne-third of of local renters are ‘severely’ rent burdened, meaning that they pay more than half of their income in rent. That figure was 24% in 2000.” The average “asking rents” averaged $1,382 in the third quarter of 2011. . .”
So is it any wonder that Californians are splitting in large numbers and heading out to other states?