Low vacancies creating historic rents on the Central Coast

“You can probably afford the place but nothing to live on,” said Bert Acker who is looking for a place to rent.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Commerce finds that the lack of rental properties is resulting in record high rents all over the country.

“Working an 8-5 job and trying to pay this ridiculous amount of rent, it’s just like you need six jobs in which I can’t do,” said Acker.

Goldman Realty Properties owner Zach Goldman said rental properties on the peninsula have gone up 15-20 percent in the last several years..

“In this area sometimes people are paying up to 50% of what their household income is towards rent, that’s very common around here,” said Goldman.

Property managers and realtors said the shortage of rentals can be attributed to an influx of people relocating to the area and grabbing up the housing, along with limited opportunity for development.

“I would call this a low growth area,” said Goldman. “Plus we’re surrounding by three sides of water, so having the ocean here there’s limited amount of space to build.”

Realtors say the historic high rent prices are also causing the prices of homes to go up because sometimes you could pay about the same amount for a mortgage as you would on rent.

“It’s getting to the point where you almost worry about happened in 2006 and 2008,” said John G. Davi, owner of John G. Davi Properties. “Prices in Seaside I’ve seen escalate almost like 35 percent.”

Whether the trend of high rentals will stop or continue may depend on the area.

“As long as there’s places like Monterey to live in and people can afford it they’ll keep buying here,” said Davi.

Property managers said if you see a rental that you want, don’t wait.

Make calls on it immediately because chances are many other qualified tenants will be applying as well.