Second Quarter 2025
Ventura County Multifamily Market Sees Record Rents, Declining Vacancy, and Population Shifts
Tightening supply and steady demand push vacancies lower while rent growth continues into the second half of 2025.
Ventura’s multifamily market posts a 70-basis-point annual vacancy decline and a 1.9% rent increase, despite economic headwinds and out-migration trends.
MARKET OVERVIEW
Ventura County’s multifamily housing market has experienced steady demand over the past year, despite slight out-migration. Limited affordable single-family housing options, paired with employment, have kept demand resilient. According to the California Department of Finance, the county’s population decreased by 0.1% between 2024 and 2025, bringing the total to 735,772 residents. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors reported that the median home price in Q1 2025 (latest available data) was $905,820, with an average monthly payment of $5,330—up 7.2% from the prior year due to elevated interest rates.
This dynamic pushed the multifamily vacancy rate down by 10 basis points in Q2 from the previous quarter and 70 basis points year-over-year, reaching 3.4%. The decline reflects ongoing shifts in supply and demand, as newly completed units in the first half of 2025 fell 39.6% compared to the same period last year. With fewer deliveries, asking rents continued to climb, increasing 1.9% year-over-year to a record high of $2,680 per unit per month.
As of Q2, 1,901 units were under construction, down 14.0% from the prior quarter but up 26.9% year-over-year. These figures highlight the pressures facing development, including high interest rates, rising construction costs, a slowing economy, and weaker rent growth—factors that have caused some investors to hold off on selling. In the first half of 2025, unit sales totaled 271, down 78.9% compared to the same period last year. However, sales activity rebounded quarter-over-quarter, with a 91.4% increase in units sold from Q1’s low volumes.
The average sale price per unit declined 10.3% quarter-over-quarter and 16.0% year-over-year, reaching $286,370. Sales dollar volume for the first half of 2025 dropped 77.3% compared to the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, the average capitalization rate decreased by 30 basis points year-over-year to 5.0%.
TRENDS TO WATCH
Despite elevated interest rates, tight credit conditions, and a softening investment climate, Ventura County’s multifamily sector continues to demonstrate underlying demand drivers that support long-term stability.
Looking ahead to the second half of 2025, however, the fundamentals present a mixed outlook. A shifting economy, population out-migration, and evolving employment trends will continue to shape the region’s growth trajectory. Ventura County’s employment picture remains slightly stronger than Los Angeles County, with the unemployment rate in the Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura MSA at 5.4% in July 2025, compared to L.A. County’s 5.8%, according to the California Employment Development Department. Still, many workers are leaving the region or relocating to neighboring counties in search of more affordable housing.
Rent comparisons reinforce these pressures. In Los Angeles County, the average asking rent is $2,265 per unit—15.5% lower than Ventura County. In Santa Barbara County, just north of Ventura, the average asking rent is $2,518 per unit, 6.0% lower. These differences provide attractive alternatives for cost-sensitive renters. Low vacancy rates and new construction have driven Ventura County’s rent growth, but affordability remains a barrier. Many households are unable to move into new developments, instead staying longer in older, lower-priced units. Over the past two years, 2,107 newly completed units have entered the market at an average rent of $2,884—7.6% above the countywide average. However, these units carry a vacancy rate of 11.0%, suggesting high rent costs are contributing to continued out-migration.
Meanwhile, cost-of-living trends remain uneven. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in July that housing costs in the Los Angeles CPI region, which includes Ventura County, rose 3.7% year-over-year. Offsetting this, motor fuel prices declined 3.7%, slightly easing commuting costs. Against this backdrop of financially cautious renters, diminished demand for new construction, and slower rental rate growth, a highly anticipated Federal Reserve rate cut could serve as a catalyst for investment sales activity as the market transitions into the second half of 2025.
