January 19th, 2011 8:35 AM

A push by local landlords to stem rent cuts in Orange County took a bit of a hit late last year. Average rents at Orange County’s larger apartment complexes fell $16 a month — or 1% — to $1,476 in the last three months of 2010 vs. the previous quarter, according to RealFacts.

That recent drop  was the first quarter-to-quarter rent cut of the year, leaving local rents just 0.2% above year-end 2009. Rents had jumped $19 a month — or 1.2% — in the first nine months of 2010.

For all of last year, RealFacts says local rents averaged $1,482 a month — down 2.5% in a year. Local rents fell 4.6% in 2009 vs. 2008. As a result, average rents are virtually the same as 2006.

Sarah Bridge of RealFacts says the story is pretty much the same in Orange County and the rest of the nation: After a year that saw rents on the rise, she says, “the year ended on a flat note … but nothing to get too hysterical about.” Bridge thinks rents will begrudgingly move higher in 2011 but, “it’s going to be as slow going as anything else in this economy.”

She also thinks some landlords may not be chasing every last customer with deeply discounted rents this year. “They are seeking stability,” Bridge says.

Landlords’ recent rent cuts helped them fill empty units locally. Orange County’s fourth-quarter occupancy hit 95% vs. 94.7% three months earlier and 93.6% at year-end 2009. The last full-year that occupancy ran 95% or higher was 2006.

RealFacts creates its reports by surveying larger landlords for their “asking” rates for new tenants.

Another local rent benchmark, a slice of the Consumer Price Index for Southern California, found slightly falling rents in the region in 2010. An 0.2% dip was the first SoCal rent drop since 1995. However, this benchmark — derived from a survey of tenants — showed slightly rising rents late in 2010.

Statewide, in major markets, RealFacts found:

• Highest rents? San Jose-Santa Clara at $1,590. Cheapest? Hanford at $710.
• Highest occupancy? San Luis Obispo at 97.8%. Lowest? Phoenix Lake at 79%.
• Biggest rent hikes? San Jose-Santa Clara at 7.1% Biggest drops? San Luis Obispo at 24%.

RealFacts’ nationwide analysis: “Many landlords had expected to benefit from rent appreciation of the sort that would bring their operations back to what they were prior to the recession.  But the reality is that today’s market belongs to the renter, especially those with good credit.  Renters are clearly demonstrating price resistance for this commodity at the present moment and property owners will have to play the waiting game as the economy makes its snail-paced comeback.”

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