How to save $2,000 a month in L.A.: rent

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Set us as preferred Some Los Angeles-area renters may carry the secret shame of not owning their homes, but maybe they should be bragging.Right now, renting is a much better deal.

People in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area looking to get into a smaller home on average would save more than $2,000 a month by renting rather than buying, according to the latest estimates from Realtor.com.That’s a lot of potential savings to invest and hold until interest rates and home prices cool.

Business The supply of fresh rental units, which make up the bulk of new housing in Los Angeles, is petering out despite robust demand.Last month, for homes with up to two bedrooms, the gap between the median rental cost per month and monthly cost of buying was the highest in the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to the real estate listing and data company.The median cost to buy in the Los Angeles area was $4,836 per month, while the median rent for the same size homes was $2,787, a $2,049 difference.

The average gap in the U.S.was $858.

In New York, it was $1,823.Jiayi Xu, a senior economist at Realtor.com, said starting out with a rental may help those still hoping to buy a home in the long run.“The monthly savings, like the $2,000 renters enjoy relative to buying [in L.A.], can be put directly towards the down payment, which could create a faster path to homeownership,” she said.

Business The number of condominiums sold in Los Angeles County in January and February was the lowest it’s been since 2005.Developers say that the costs of land and labor, as well as the regulations, taxes and fees connected to construction, make it difficult to profit from projects in and around L.A.The gap favoring renting has persisted for years, according to Realtor.com data showing 36 consecutive months of annual rent...