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San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

sfchronicle.com

101–110 of 342 posts

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#101
post #73

This article seems to be based on only a few transactions, as not a lot of people are actually moving right now. I manage a couple of properties in the Bay Area, so I keep a close eye on these things. What I'm seeing is not a drop in rents, but an increase in $0 deposits and many weeks of free rent upon move in (sometimes 6+ weeks). Landlords are very reluctant to lower rents, because with the statewide rent control…

[deleted]

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#102
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My rent was $4300. They're currently renting the same unit on a higher floor for $3500. You should ask them to lower your rent to $3500. Then ask if you can move in upstairs.

He probably can at the end of the lease, but usually not in the middle. I've done it, but it seems to take an open-minded management company. It also depends on things such as how much money/time/effort the landlord want to put into "turning" an apartment, the number of corporate long-term rentals a complex has, what the landlord thinks is going to happen in the near future, and even what property management software…

He said he moved in last summer, so I assume he's near the end of his lease.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#103
post #73

This article seems to be based on only a few transactions, as not a lot of people are actually moving right now. I manage a couple of properties in the Bay Area, so I keep a close eye on these things. What I'm seeing is not a drop in rents, but an increase in $0 deposits and many weeks of free rent upon move in (sometimes 6+ weeks). Landlords are very reluctant to lower rents, because with the statewide rent control…

> Landlords are very reluctant to lower rents, because with the statewide rent control that limits increases to 5% a year, we're incentivized to keep the rents high and give months of free rent, just so our base rate doesn't drop. How is it that Mission Bay apartments are not subject to these rent control regulations if this is state wide? Asking because when I lived in Mission Bay, UDR properties each year tried inc…

Statewide rent control in California wasn't enacted until January 1, 2020 (with a retroactive period of several months I believe).

So, if you rented before Jan 1, and your rental unit was built after 1979, it wasn't covered by any rent control. Landlords could raise rent as much as they wanted on those types of units.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#104
post #73

This article seems to be based on only a few transactions, as not a lot of people are actually moving right now. I manage a couple of properties in the Bay Area, so I keep a close eye on these things. What I'm seeing is not a drop in rents, but an increase in $0 deposits and many weeks of free rent upon move in (sometimes 6+ weeks). Landlords are very reluctant to lower rents, because with the statewide rent control…

I live on 22 block Valencia.. I've had 4 neighbors move out in the past month. So as far as price.. I can't say. But as far as folks moving out. I can.

My coworkers in Berkeley are all telling their property managers that they need to either lower the rent or they're not going to renew. Once the UC system said they weren't opening back up for physical classes in the fall demand for places near campus dropped considerably.

My landlord hasn't lowered rent, but to incentivize us to stay he replaced our washing machine and upgraded some stuff around the property. That being said if my company ends up going fully remote (which looks likely) I'll probably be leaving the bay area anyways.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

specifically, it's the tourists causing the cost increase. airBnb is just the facilitator. if they weren't going to airbinb they would've gone to hotels or people renting out their apartments.

If they were going to hotels, they wouldn't cause rent increases in residential properties... that's kind of the point..

Really looking forward to overleveraged airbnbers, the kinds juggling 10 mortgages and causing housing shortages, to get blackswanned.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#106
post #57

I expect in the near future, the urban rents in general will fall. Between COVID and rioting, living in a dense city just lost a lost of luster.

You overestimate our cultural attention span :) Anyway, even with COVID + Rioting, I'd much rather live in a big city than in the countryside.

There's a major spectrum of lifestyles between big city and countryside.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#107
post #68
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You overestimate our cultural attention span :) Anyway, even with COVID + Rioting, I'd much rather live in a big city than in the countryside.

why?

Amenities. Not having to drive everywhere. Good internet. Rural areas are more conservative in general (I'm talking about the cultural sense, not economic) so that can be stifling for a lot of people.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#109
I live in the greater Boston area and recently all suburbian homes I've seen sold for more than the asking price. I'm not following rentals so cannot tell. I don't think prices gonna drop any time soon. I hope I'm wrong.

Boston has tech but smaller than SF. It's big on pharma, hospitals, and universities. Such industries cannot switch to fully remote so change here might not be as drastic as in other places.

Re: San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn

#110
post #5

Looks like people are really leaving the Bay Area. you don't see 10-15% price drops in a year without corresponding drop in demand.

Supply increased significantly due to condo and SFH owners opting to wait it out until 2021 rather than test the sales market (listed as rental and willing to offer competitive prices since they’re sensitive to vacancies). This is driving the General strength in sales pricing for Bay Area housing. Demand for buying has come back strong in May while supply’s return is slow. I do see listings picking up in the last 2 w…

And don't forget the impact to demand of university enrollment. Very interested to see what will happen to rents around Palo Alto once the Stanford grad residences are complete and Stanford finalizes its plan to resume the fall and winter quarters.
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