SoCal rent prices down 4.9 percent since 2008

LOS ANGELES According to the real estate research firm Real Facts, rent has gone down 4.9 percent since peaking in the third quarter of 2008.

That brings the average rent price from $1,500 to about $1,400.

Also, occupancy rates have dropped.

They fell eight-tenths of a percent to 93.7 percent.

And while falling rent prices are good news for renters, experts say it is evidence of a larger economic weakness.