San Diego apartments are getting bigger — for now
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Bigger apartments are back, but the trend may not last.
Why it matters: More spacious apartments are a small win for renters, who occupy more than half of San Diego's households, as people struggle to afford houses in the city's expensive real estate market.
Driving the news: San Diego apartments built between 2014 and 2023 measured 865 square feet, a 4% increase in size from those built prior to 2014, per a recent report from rental listing website RentCafe.
- That's a 33-square-foot gain in floor space.
- Plus, apartments here are bigger on average than in other major cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Yes, but: The extra space has come alongside rising rents.
- As of March 2024, the average San Diego apartment is 873 square feet with monthly rent averaging $2,934, but it varies greatly based on size and neighborhood.
Reality check: San Diego is also one of the top 10 cities in the U.S. with the smallest apartments under construction at 734 square feet on average, per the report.
The big picture: The average U.S. apartment built in 2023 measured 916 square feet, a 27-square-foot rebound from the previous year.
- Apartment sizes shrank in 2022 to the smallest on average since at least 2014, according to the report.
- The downsizing came as strong rental demand spurred developers to pack more units into buildings, researchers say.
State of play: Nationally, more two- and three-bedroom rentals hit the market last year, pushing up the national average size, but one-bedroom floor plans continue to dominate, RentCafe found.
- Developers are now catering to people who want more space while they postpone house purchases or spend time working from home
- Two- and three-bedroom apartments "have been adding more floor space in the last decade, while studios and one-bedroom apartments ... have been getting more and more compact," per RentCafe's report.