It may be no secret that, by and large, Westwood has some of the
highest rents in Los Angeles, where property owners can charge
according to a seemingly unlimited demand.
But they can’t this year.
This year, Westwood apartment buildings have, on average, an
unusually high rate of vacancy. These vacancies are largely
attributed to two things — a weak economy and rental costs beyond
the pocket book of the average UCLA student.
“I have not seen so many (rental) signs up since
I’ve been here … the vacancy level is just
incredible” said Dannica Kravica, Midvale Plaza’s
manager since 1997. “It’s not just this building,
it’s all over (Westwood),” she said.
The Westwood apartment market is an unusually fortunate one, in
the sense it has a persistent feeder of renters ““ students
and UCLA employees who are willing to pay high prices for close
proximity to the university.
But in a slumping economy, it appears Westwood apartment owners
are asking prices the weak rental market will not support.
“Balloons only blow up so much before they break,”
said Scott Taylor, property manager of Gayley Manor and 1977 UCLA
student body president. Taylor said he had heard from many property
owners that the market was soft this year, and they couldn’t
get the same prices they had last year.
“Prices tend to go up every year. But student budgets
don’t necessarily,” Taylor said.
Taylor said most UCLA undergraduates typically only have
$500-$600 budgeted per month for rent. Because two-bedroom
apartments in the north village typically range from a low of
$1,900 to $2,500 or more, most students have to live double or even
triple to a room, and, even then, the more expensive apartments are
priced beyond affordability.
In an unhealthy economy, it appears more students are unwilling
or unable to shell out $600 a month to share a bedroom and are
opting for less expensive neighborhoods a mile or two away.
“My roommates didn’t want to pay more than 2,000 a
month, so Brentwood was the ideal place,” said Mansour
Jammal, a third year biochemistry student.
“I searched in Westwood, and the prices were unbelievable
… so my roommates and I decided to live further down,” said
Abby Camaya, a fourth-year communications studies student.
The UCLA Office of Housing Services has also received more
advertisements of vacancies on its Web site as compared to last
year.
Westwood apartment owners are largely dependent on students for
their renters. So, if apartments remain vacant beyond October, they
may be unoccupied for the rest of the quarter, or even the
year.
“If you are not filled by Oct. 1, then you are going to
have vacancies unless you lower prices,” said Tony Mouallem,
property manager of the Club California apartments on Levering
Avenue.
Mouallem said he believes 15 to 20 percent of apartments in the
Village are vacant, and some property owners are lowering rents as
much as 30 percent to fill those vacancies.
The last time Westwood had a vacancy problem was during the
recession of the early 1990s.