LA population growing faster than housing stock

Just like the prices for every other commodity, pricing for housing units (eg rent) is governed by supply and demand.

Between 2016 and 2017, Los Angeles gained ~40,000 people (taking us above 4MM for the first time).

The number of apartments delivered, in the midst of a historic boom in multifamily construction: ~13,000.

Depending on how many people you think fit in an apartment (and my guess is that the median is something like 2), construction is either falling behind population growth by a little or a lot.

Either way, expect more rent growth in the next year or so.