Live data from Hacker News

San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

bloomberg.com

211–220 of 640 posts

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle's reckoning/correction is coming. The city is doing everything in its power to chase money away, Amazon is trying to move to Bellevue as an example. People are growing tired of the messy streets, needles are tents are spreading as the city ignores the problem. On the plus side, our landlord is doing everything in his power to keep us happy, for the first time.

Maybe, but it hasn’t happened yet, it’s a seller market ATM. And we just moved from Bellevue where we were renting, houses are actually cheaper in Seattle, we could never afford anything decent in Bellevue.

That's driven alot by the superior schools in Bellevue. 30% of Seattle kids go to private schools...

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#212
Personally I think SF itself, compared to the surrounding region, is a terrible place to live whos downsides must only be barely mitigated by specific positives which appeal to some people-- E.g. nightlife and access to high paying jobs. And right now the pandemic has killed the positives: destinations are closed and businesses have cut back and/or accepted remote work in large numbers.

Not everyone sees it my way, of course, but you don't need a large drop in demand to create a large drop in price.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess as to what will happen, for the sake of playing along with the hypothetical simply because it’s fun. Destination cities will still be desirable, however there will be a very slow rebuilding of demand. The magnitude of that demand will never reach the same height. The entire world was forced to work from home for an extended period of time, introducing those from industries that would scoff at the idea to a d…

> The magnitude of that demand will never reach the same height. I don't believe this; very few companies are okay with permanent remote work after the pandemic is over, even though they are very notable exceptions, eg Facebook. This also assumes the population of people interested in living in destination cities is constant, but it's been growing every year the last decade except this one. COVID and the possibilitie…

I work in oil and gas, by no means the epicenter of innovation and many of these companies are talking about a moving to a mostly remote work force to save on real estate expenses.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#214
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a big difference between San Francisco and San Diego? They're both Californian mega cities.

Very different. San Diego is not a mega city like LA or the great Bay Area. Much better weather than SF, seems a bit more relaxed pace and not as overrun.

Looking at a map there really isn't much of a gap between LA and San Diego. It's pretty much one mega-city.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#215

I think people are asking the wrong questions. We know that people moving back in with their parents is up about 3 million due to COVID [1]. It would follow that studio apartments are the mostly likely to be rented by those same young people, thus the demand has dried up. The question we aren't asking is, what happens when the economy recovers and these people move out of their parent's homes? Will they go back to th…

My guess as to what will happen, for the sake of playing along with the hypothetical simply because it’s fun. Destination cities will still be desirable, however there will be a very slow rebuilding of demand. The magnitude of that demand will never reach the same height. The entire world was forced to work from home for an extended period of time, introducing those from industries that would scoff at the idea to a d…

==This general shift in attitude will make it far more realistic to work where you actually in your heart of hearts want to live.==

Will young people suddenly not want to live in close proximity to other young people? Will that become another luxury item for the well-connected?

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counter anecdote, I know three people from the bay area who moved out during covidtide, but had already planned the move beforehand. (This is a very high percentage of people I know from the bay area, hence the anecdote). All had the same rationale: taxes and housing were simply far too high when they could work remotely and live anywhere else. Sure, you don't get the same outdoors, food or retail scene, but ple…

This is the mindset I really don’t understand though. Sure your company can say “we’re all remote” today, but they can just as easily say “everyone has to come back” in six months. Or “everyone doesn’t have to, but those who don’t are the first laid off next time”. I’ve been fully remote since March, so I’ve been weighing this for awhile”

There’s a lot more flexibility being pondered, with only one or two days in the office instead of 5. It’s easier to consider moving to the East Bay, Modesto, Gilroy or whatever if you only have to get to the office once or twice a week. Depending on rent, a hotel and flight could even open up much of the west coast.

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF is indeed a nice city and better than many in terms of parks and outdoor amenities. However, the space at home, when you WFH, is pretty rough. If you take what a typical couple pays for SF rent you can buy two houses in most of the US. So... if you're going to be spending a lot of time at home, for many people it makes sense to move out to a cheaper and more spacious locale, at least for now.

agreed -- portland is right there with very similar recreational activities and literally 25% the rent. why rent a 1b1b in SF when you can rent a mansion right on washington park for the same price?

Not everyone can stand the Pacific North West weather. https://www.reddit.com/r/askportland/comments/53okby/moving_...

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WFH is a huge part. Just moved from a tiny 1 bed near downtown LA to a 3 bed place in Chicago with lower rent. My girlfriend and I both get our own offices, we have a yard, and enough places that are half open nearby that we're pretty happy.

Please report back in February after experiencing a -40 day :)

-40C or -40F?

Re: San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The WFH is a huge part. Just moved from a tiny 1 bed near downtown LA to a 3 bed place in Chicago with lower rent. My girlfriend and I both get our own offices, we have a yard, and enough places that are half open nearby that we're pretty happy.

Please report back in February after experiencing a -40 day :)

Chicago doesn't get -40°. When I was in Champaign (admittedly, that's ~100mi south) for 6 years, exactly once did we have windchill reach -40°. Your typical "coldest low" in Chicago will be single-digit degrees Fahrenheit.

Per Wikipedia, Chicago's record extreme low is -25°F.

Post reply on HN