SoCal home prices are breaking records while apartment rents are dropping during pandemic

When the pandemic hit in March, and the economy started to tank, but the housing market so far hasn’t crashed. In August, the median home price in the region reached a record-breaking $600,000, which is up 12% compared to the same time last year. It’s a seller’s market for single family homes.

But it’s turning into a renter’s market for apartments. Rent prices are falling in Los Angeles. The median price for a one-bedroom last month was around $2,000 a month, which is down 11% from last year.

How are both of these things happening at the same time? And what about commercial real estate, with a large number of folks no longer needing office space at the moment?