A new study by a tenant advocacy group shows a major increase in rent prices across the Los Angeles area during Southern California’s recent wildfires despite laws preventing price gouging

The most competitive markets this year share characteristics such as relative affordability and “supply that trails demand,” according to Zillow. Taking the top spot in the ranking is Buffalo, New York, followed by Indianapolis and Providence, Rhode Island.

Within the week since Los Angeles’s worst-ever disaster began, rent gouging has become a crisis on top of the crisis. It’s against the law to increase a rental price by more than 10 percent once a state of emergency has been declared;

Because California is in a state of emergency, laws targeting price-gouging, including a ban on landlords raising rents by more than 10 percent of pre-emergency levels, should be in effect. But that hasn't deterred some landlords from apparently raising their rents by far more than that,

Tenant advocacy groups, landlord associations and elected officials are condemning rent gouging after tens of thousands of people were displaced in deadly fires this month.

The agent allegedly offered a Glendale home to a family displaced by the Eaton Fire for more than 50% above the listed rent. She denies the allegations.

Here’s what “The Rent Brigade” found after combing through 1,343 Zillow posts that appear to have broken California’s ban on post-fire price gouging.

Newsweek found properties that jacked up their prices during the California wildfires raising concerns of potential price gouging.

The emergency law caps rents to a ‘fair market value’ determined by HUD, but the caps are so low that many high-end homeowners are delaying putting

A law barring monthly rents of more than $10,000 for new listings is stopping high-end homes from going on the market, real estate agents and brokers say. Such homes could be in demand for wealthy fire victims.

Rent for single-family homes across Los Angeles County rose by almost 25 percent, and even more in certain areas, according to a Washington Post analysis.

Put it all together, and you get something that looks an awful lot like systemic risk, threatening home values across the country.