Rents are down in San Diego County for the first time in years.

The median price for a one-bedroom apartment in San Diego was down 4.6 percent to $2,500 a month, according to rental website Zumper, from September to October. It was the 15th-largest drop of the 100 biggest cities the website studied.

National rents were down nearly 1 percent in the report, with most drops spread evenly across the country. Zumper and other real estate analysts have pointed to unsustainable rent gains over the past year, fear of a recession causing renters to shop around more, and multifamily building increasing for much of the year — adding to the number of units a renter has to choose from.

Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego, said usually when the housing market becomes unaffordable for most people (like with an increase in mortgage rates), there is a rush into rentals and that keeps prices up. At least in the short term that doesn’t seem to be happening.

“I think what we’re seeing is a slowing in the economy overall,” he said. “And that’s taking some pressure off the housing market, on the owner-occupied side and the rental side too.”

Zumper said the one-bedroom price in San Diego was still up 21.4 percent in a year. While that is high, it isn’t the highest by a long shot. Chesapeake, Virginia, with a $1,400 median one-bedroom rent, has seen prices increase 40 percent in a year.

Across San Diego County, there was not a uniform drop. Zumper said Chula Vista was down the most, 4.7 percent, followed by San Diego’s 4.6 percent drop. Yet at the same time, Carlsbad rent was up 6.1 percent and Oceanside up 1.8 percent. Most other markets were unchanged.

The differences locally may come down to scarcity. In the first nine months of this year, the city of San Diego built nearly half of all new housing in the county, and Chula Vista was the second most at 11 percent.

Joshua Ohl, a managing analyst for real estate tracker CoStar, wrote in an analysis that newer luxury apartments are seeing rents fall the fastest. Available units are easiest to find at this level, compared to mid-tier apartments with lower rent and in much higher demand in comparison.

CoStar recently reported that rents in San Diego County dropped during September and October, marking its first two-month drop in five years. Tracking quarterly data, considered less volatile than month-to-month, shows the last quarter where rents didn’t rise was the second quarter of 2020.

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Rent changes in San Diego County
Monthly rent for one-bedroom units, September to October

Carlsbad: $2,270 (6.1 percent increase)
Oceanside: $2,300 (1.8 percent increase)
San Marcos: $2,570 (1.6 percent increase)
El Cajon: $1,750 (1.2 percent increase)
Encinitas: $3,170 (No change)
La Mesa: $2,300 (No change)
Vista: $2,240 (No change)
Imperial Beach: $2,100 (No change)
Escondido: $2,040: (No change)
San Diego: $2,500 (4.6 percent decrease)
Chula Vista: $2,210 (4.7 percent decrease)

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar