Which South Bay City Has Seen the Highest Rent Growth in 2026?

Published July 15, 2026

Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach rents are climbing in 2026 while Torrance is flat and Hawthorne and Inglewood are falling. Here is the breakdown.

Manhattan Beach posted the strongest rent growth of any South Bay city heading into the second half of 2026, with the average asking rent up roughly 32 percent year over year to about $7,900 a month, according to Zillow. Redondo Beach followed with a smaller but still solid gain near 6 percent. Torrance barely moved, and Hawthorne and Inglewood actually saw asking rents fall.

The 2026 South Bay rent picture, city by city

We pulled current averages and year over year change from Zillow's Rental Manager market trend pages, which track active listing data rather than a fixed lease roll, so treat these as directional, not gospel. Still, the pattern is consistent enough to matter for owners.

Manhattan Beach: average rent about $7,900, up roughly $1,905 year over year, the largest dollar gain in the South Bay.
Redondo Beach: average rent about $3,599, up roughly $199 year over year. Zillow labels the market temperature here WARM.
El Segundo: average rent about $2,995, holding steady in a market with very little turnover.
Torrance: median rent about $2,800, up only about $32 year over year, essentially flat.
Inglewood: median rent about $2,300, down roughly $200 year over year.
Hawthorne: median rent about $1,925, down roughly $323 year over year, the softest print in the area.

That is a wide spread for cities that sit within a few miles of each other. It tells you the South Bay is not one market. It is several small ones stacked next to each other, and each one is being pushed by a different set of forces.

Why the coastal cities are pulling away

Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach share three things working in their favor: very little new rental supply, a renter pool that includes relocating professionals who are not price shopping the way a value renter would, and a walkable, beach-adjacent lifestyle that does not get built twice. When supply is essentially fixed and demand for that specific lifestyle keeps showing up, rent has nowhere to go but up. El Segundo is a quieter version of the same story, helped along by its concentration of aerospace and tech employers that keep a steady stream of relocating workers looking for housing close to the office.

Why Hawthorne and Inglewood are cooling

Inglewood in particular has absorbed a wave of new multifamily construction tied to the SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park redevelopment, plus other large residential projects nearby. More units competing for the same renter pool puts downward pressure on asking rents, even in a neighborhood with strong long-term fundamentals. Hawthorne's softness likely reflects some of that same regional supply plus a broader cooling in LA County's more affordable rental tiers, where the Los Angeles market overall has been running roughly flat to down over the past year on asking rents.

What this means for you

If you own in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, or El Segundo, this is a reasonable year to test market rent at renewal or turnover, but check whether the unit is covered by California's statewide rent cap first. Under the Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (Civil Code section 1947.12, commonly called AB 1482), a covered unit's annual increase is capped at 5 percent plus the regional cost of living change, or 10 percent, whichever is lower. For the Los Angeles metro area, that cap works out to 8.7 percent effective August 1, 2026. Most single-family homes and condos are exempt from the cap if the owner gives the required Civil Code section 1947.12(g) notice at move-in, and none of the three coastal South Bay cities named above currently layer on a stricter local rent control ordinance of their own. If you own in Hawthorne or Inglewood, do not assume last year's rent is still the market rent. Pull current comps before you renew.

If you would rather not track six different micro-markets yourself, that is what we do.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm with a licensed professional before you act.

Sources

Last verified: July 2026.

Topics: market, rent trends, South Bay, Manhattan Beach, Torrance

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