As of August 14, 2026, our live CRMLS figures put the median Los Angeles condo sale price at $875,000 and the median asking rent at $3,950 a month. Divide price by a year of rent and the price-to-rent ratio is about 18.5 — renting is the cheaper monthly outlay across most of the city.
The two numbers, and where each one comes from
The sale side comes from our market report at /market-stats: a median sale price of $875,000, a median of $689 per square foot, 1,976 active condo listings, about 8.7 months of supply and a median 42 days on market. Those are computed from the live CRMLS feed and carry an as-of date of August 14, 2026. The median is down 0.5 percent year over year.
The rent side comes from our rental report at /rental-market: a median asking rent of $3,950 a month across 1,944 active condo rentals, a median of $4.00 per square foot per month, at a median listing size of 1,179 square feet, as of August 13, 2026. Those are asking rents on active listings, not signed leases — a distinction that matters, because asking rents lead the market and signed rents lag it.
Both are medians rather than averages, deliberately: active asking rents in our data run as high as $95,000 a month, and a mean would land somewhere no renter has ever shopped.
Running the ratio two ways
Price-to-rent is the standard way to compare the two sides, and it is simple arithmetic on the two medians above: $875,000 divided by twelve months of $3,950 rent, or $47,400 a year, gives about 18.5.
There is a second way to run it that controls for size, and it is worth doing because the sale and rental pools are not the same homes. Take the per-square-foot figures instead: $689 to buy against $4.00 per square foot per month to rent, or $48 a year. That ratio is about 14.4.
Those two answers are four points apart, and the reason is the mix. The rental pool has a median listing size of 1,179 square feet and skews toward two-bedrooms, which are 41 percent of active rentals; the for-sale pool is a different set of buildings and unit sizes. Neither is wrong — they answer slightly different questions, and quoting one without the other overstates how precise this exercise is. Both are our arithmetic on our own published medians, not a statistic anyone else publishes.
Where the gap is widest
The city-wide numbers hide the interesting part, because rent varies far more by neighborhood than the headline suggests. From our rental report, by median asking rent and active rental count as of August 13, 2026:
Koreatown asks a median of $2,600 a month across 206 active rentals — the lowest median and the largest rental pool we publish. Downtown LA asks $3,200 across 193. Sherman Oaks asks $3,400 across 25, Hollywood $3,850 across 91, and Mid-Wilshire $3,995 across 91.
At the other end, Century City asks $8,500 a month across 21 active rentals, Playa Vista $5,748 across 18, Beverly Hills $5,650 across 83, Brentwood $5,500 across 37, Westwood $5,395 across 94 and West Hollywood $5,273 across 162.
Set those against the sale side and a pattern falls out, with one important caveat: our per-neighborhood sale figures are periodic research estimates, labeled as such on /market-stats, while the rents above are live. Comparing a live number against an estimate gives you a direction, not a decimal.
With that caveat stated: our estimate for /neighborhoods/koreatown is a $640,000 median price, against $2,600 in live median rent — roughly 20.5 on the ratio. Our estimate for /neighborhoods/downtown-la is $645,000 against $3,200 — roughly 16.8. Our estimate for /neighborhoods/century-city is $1.65 million against $8,500 — roughly 16.2. The cheapest place to rent is not the cheapest place to buy relative to renting, which is the opposite of most people's intuition.
What the ratio leaves out, which is a lot
A price-to-rent ratio compares a purchase price to a rent. It does not compare the cost of owning to the cost of renting, and the difference is most of the money.
On the ownership side, the ratio ignores HOA dues, which in LA condos span a range wide enough to change the answer on its own; we cover that spread at /blog/la-condo-hoa-fees-explained. It ignores property taxes, including the supplemental bill that arrives after purchase and the Measure ULA transfer tax on the way out, both at /blog/la-condo-property-taxes-prop-13-measure-ula. And it ignores mortgage interest, insurance and closing costs.
On the renting side, it ignores that rent moves annually and a fixed mortgage payment does not, and it ignores what Los Angeles rent stabilization does and does not cover — the landlord-side view of which is at /blog/renting-out-an-la-condo-rso-permits.
It also ignores the two figures that decide most of it: how long you stay, and what you would earn on the down payment if you did not spend it. A ratio of 18.5 across a two-year stay and a ratio of 18.5 across a fifteen-year stay are the same number describing two different decisions.
The market conditions behind these figures
Two sale-side numbers are worth holding alongside the ratio. At about 8.7 months of supply, our report reads the LA condo market as buyer-favoring — the common yardstick treats under four months as seller-favoring, four to six as balanced, and over six as buyer-favoring. And the median is down 0.5 percent year over year, which is close to flat rather than a decline you could plan around.
On the rental side, 1,944 active condo rentals against 1,976 active for-sale listings is a near-even split of published inventory. Both pools refresh through the day, so the ratios above have a shelf life measured in weeks. The listings behind them are at /condos-for-sale and /condos-for-rent.
Questions LA condo buyers ask about renting versus buying
What is the price-to-rent ratio in Los Angeles right now?
Using our live figures as of August 14, 2026 — a $875,000 median condo sale price against a $3,950 median monthly asking rent — the ratio is about 18.5. Computed on a per-square-foot basis instead, $689 to buy against $4.00 per square foot per month to rent, it is about 14.4. Both are our arithmetic on our own published medians.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy a condo in Los Angeles?
On monthly outlay alone, renting is cheaper for most buyers at these figures, because a ratio near 18.5 means the purchase price is high relative to what the same home rents for. That comparison excludes HOA dues, property taxes, insurance and financing costs on the owning side, and excludes rent increases and the return on an unspent down payment on the renting side, so it is a starting point rather than an answer.
What is the median condo rent in Los Angeles?
$3,950 a month across 1,944 active condo rental listings we publish, a median of $4.00 per square foot per month at a median size of 1,179 square feet, as of August 13, 2026. By bedroom count the medians are $1,950 for a studio, $2,879 for a one bedroom, $4,250 for a two bedroom and $5,500 for a three bedroom.
Which LA neighborhood has the cheapest condo rent?
Of the neighborhoods with enough active rentals for us to publish a median, Koreatown is the lowest at $2,600 a month across 206 active listings, followed by Downtown LA at $3,200 across 193 and Sherman Oaks at $3,400 across 25, as of August 13, 2026.
Does a low price-to-rent ratio mean I should buy?
No — the ratio is a market-level orientation figure, not personal advice. It says nothing about your holding period, financing, tax position or what the specific building's dues and reserves look like, and those decide the outcome far more than the ratio does.
How to turn this into your own number
Replace both medians with the two figures that actually apply to you: the asking rent on the specific unit type and neighborhood you would rent, and the all-in monthly cost of the specific unit you would buy — mortgage, dues, taxes and insurance, not the price. Both report pages are refreshed from the live feed rather than frozen into this article.
We are a research and listings platform, not a brokerage. We do not list on the MLS, negotiate offers or close transactions, and nothing here is financial advice. When you want the dues, reserve funding and assessment history for a particular building — the numbers that decide whether a ratio means anything — we introduce you to a licensed partner agent who can pull them.
Written by
LA Condo HQ
Los Angeles Condo Specialists
LA Condo HQ is a Los Angeles condo platform — in-depth profiles for the condo buildings we track across Los Angeles, live MLS listings for sale and rent, transparent market data refreshed hourly, and honest, pressure-free guidance for buyers, sellers and investors across Southern California.
