San Francisco rent jumps again in August

[KamaAina]

Last edited Mon Sep 7, 2015, 04:17 PM - Edit history (1)

http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2015/09/07/san-francisco-rent-jumps-again-in-august-as-does-bay-areas/

San Francisco has already earned the dubious honor of most expensive city in the USA for renters, taking the crown away from Manhattan earlier this year. And according to the latest data from Zumper’s National Rent Report for September, 2015, S.F. has no intention of giving that crown back anytime soon. The report, which charts the top 10 most expensive American cities in which to lease a one-bedroom apartment, shows San Francisco’s median rent at $3,530. This is a jump of .9% quarter-over-quarter and 13.9% year-over-year. What can we get for that price? The gallery above enlightens us with three examples.

Unfortunately for renters, there’s not much relief to be found: both the South Bay and the East Bay show up among top 10 most expensive cities on Zumper’s report. San Jose comes in at #4, with a one-bedroom median of $2,220. This is up 4.7% quarter-over-quarter and 13.8% year-over-year. Oakland, which made news earlier this summer as home to the hottest rental market in the country, now stands at $2,000 for a one bedroom, a 6.8% gain quarterly– and a staggering 23% gain by year.

Though white hot rental markets burn most acutely in Bay Area cities, renters across the nation are feeling the heat. Changing market factors have pushed a record number of people into competition for an inadequate supply, leading to surprising gains in most major metropolises. Factors in this trend, says Zumper, include:

millennials migrating to urban areas
a lack of new affordable housing construction
a fundamental shift in public attitude toward the sharing economy
people are also getting married later in life, leading to a displacement of the start of the traditional home buying cycle

We would argue as well that rising home prices and lack of inventory for homebuyers also keeps more people in tenant mode. There are of course many factors at work here, and readers can add them to the comments below. Whatever the cause, the effect is a distinct push upwards: 14 of the top 50 cities Zumper tracks experienced increases of 10% or more year-over-year.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. SF and NYC have always been cultures that value expense, they like things better at higher costs

because it gives them the chance to be seen spending and it functions to keep out any riff raff that can't manage the costs.

[Paka]

3. Not always for SF.

It was very different back in the '50s and '60s. I know because I was there.

[PasadenaTrudy]

2. And it will keep rising n/t

[Galileo126]

4. SF has been offering me jobs, and I have rejected each of them

Why should I spend 50% of my pay for housing? No moving cost reimbursement? Only a "12+ month contract?"

I told them to get lost. I just don't see the "fascination" of SF. I'll stay in SoCal, thank you.

[KamaAina]

5. Where in SoCal?

L.A. ain't exactly cheap, either.

[Galileo126]

6. The High Desert

Still cheap, but painfully a cultural desert, too. I really miss good grocery stores and butcher shops.

"We have BOTH kinds of seafood - catfish AND trout!"