It's not your imagination.

Even in these dull economic times we somehow describe as a “recovery,” rents in Los Angeles are surging even higher. It's all about supply and demand, and a lot of you want or need a place to stay in our fine city.

The real estate website Trulia today unveiled its “Rent Monitor” report for May, and you know it's not going to be pretty:
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Rents in L.A. have increased nearly 6 percent since May 2013, Trulia says. But that ranked us only 13th among big cities with the steepest increases, according to the site.

L.A.'s rent increases weren't that extreme given that rents have gone up 5.1 percent across the nation, Trulia says.

The Golden State was, however, very well represented in ghastly price hikes for apartments. San Francisco was No. 1, with a 15.6 percent May-to-May increase. According to Trulia:

Among the 25 largest rental markets, rents rose most year-over-year in San Francisco, San Diego and Oakland. Metro San Francisco also has the highest median rent for a 2-bedroom, $3,550, just ahead of metro New York.

Welcome to California. Now go home.

Credit: Trulia

Credit: Trulia

If you're buying, don't look for discounts in the foreclosure-plagued Inland Empire anymore. Apparently someone already thought of that.

According to Trulia, the Riverside-San Bernardino counties region was responsible for the largest May-to-May increase in asking prices in the nation: The area saw a 18.8 percent bump.

A Trulia rep writes, however, says that real estate is cooling off from coast to coast, and that's a good thing:

The home-price slowdown has tempered price gains in the hyper-rebounding markets without pushing more markets into price declines – and that's a good thing. Huge price gains of 20 percent or more encourage flipping and speculation, fuel unrealistic expectations, and add to the risk of future bubbles; price declines push borrowers underwater and raise the risk of default and foreclosure. Now, with fewer markets going to either extreme than at any time during the recovery, price gains are finally looking more balanced and sustainable.

Maybe all those folks driving up rents can finally afford to buy again.

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