Why is the area around the Golden Gate park so much cheaper than the surrounding areas? Is it working class? Seems strange that with access to a large park (and no other info) that it would be considerably cheaper than neighbouring areas.
Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
61–70 of 73 posts
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#62I pay far less living in Tokyo, and I can walk to Shinjuku station in 20 minutes. I pay a lot more for food and my apartment is tiny, but rent is affordable, and if you share a place, it becomes really reasonable.
However, it's certainly not as cheap as Philly was.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#63When the hell did bayview become so expensive comparatively?
The northern side of Bayview borders the expensive Potrero Hill neighborhood. And the very southern end of Bayview has some new apartment buildings, with a large hill separating them from the ghetto.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#64Why is the area around the Golden Gate park so much cheaper than the surrounding areas? Is it working class? Seems strange that with access to a large park (and no other info) that it would be considerably cheaper than neighbouring areas.
I've always speculated that the main force driving down rent prices on the west side of San Francisco (and down through Daly City and Pacifica) are largely due to the weather being foggy and chilly more often (especially in the summer) on the far west side of the northern peninsula, so it is seen as less desirable. I'm sure there are other factors at play as well, but that seems to be a major one.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's correct to imply that the city refusing to build more units is why SF is expensive. There's only so much space in SF, regardless of how high, fast, or dense you want to build.
Amazing, 21st-century technologies like "elevators" and "steel" can be used to make very high buildings: per this: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face... , which I posted elsewhere in this thread, it would be very easy for developers in SF to deploy these technologies in order to provide more living space.
Good, I'm not the only one that is dumbfounded by the abysmal quality of apartments in SF and the Bay area. If you start checking out reviews for apartments, 99% are complaints about noise. Well, yes, that's because 99% of the apartments are shoddy two-story wood constructions, built decades ago. There's some modern apartment buildings up in the city, and precious few on the peninsula, but the overall level is ridiculous.
And the worst part is that not even if you have lots of money can you easily get a modern apartment, there just isn't any supply. It drives me nuts.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know people that live in Manhatten studios that big for less, so there must be something else to your location, benefit wise?
It's a new building right on the Metro North line (which takes you straight into Midtown). But the surrounding neighborhood is otherwise like Harlem (and not the newly gentrified parts of Harlem). I think average studio in Manhattan is over $2,500, and that includes Harlem, etc, which drags down the average. The above chart seems to top out at $3,250 for financial district. In comparison, the average 1BR in TriBeCa i…
I'm pretty sure you can find cheaper. Last year I lived right across from the 91st St Y in a similar sized 1BR for $1600/mo. Check out streateasy.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know people that live in Manhatten studios that big for less, so there must be something else to your location, benefit wise?
It's a new building right on the Metro North line (which takes you straight into Midtown). But the surrounding neighborhood is otherwise like Harlem (and not the newly gentrified parts of Harlem). I think average studio in Manhattan is over $2,500, and that includes Harlem, etc, which drags down the average. The above chart seems to top out at $3,250 for financial district. In comparison, the average 1BR in TriBeCa i…
Harlem studios are nowhere near $2500 - $2500 is at at the upper bound of studio prices in Manhattan, outside of anomalous neighborhoods like TriBeCa.
You can easily get into the $2K range in Chelsea, a bit less on the Upper East Side, and in the high $1Ks in the Village. Harlem is gentrifying, but the last prices I've seen there aren't anywhere close to $2500.
Manhattan housing prices are more or less stabilized as all of the manic demand has moved to Brooklyn. DUMBO, Williamsburg, Park Slope, are now giving even the most expensive parts of Manhattan a run for their money.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#68Why is the area around the Golden Gate park so much cheaper than the surrounding areas? Is it working class? Seems strange that with access to a large park (and no other info) that it would be considerably cheaper than neighbouring areas.
Transportation. San Francisco's Achille's Heel (though the city has many, many such heels).
If you look at the heatmap you will see that it corresponds to transportation infrastructure almost to the T. Areas with access to BART are expensive. Areas with access to a functioning MUNI train are expensive (along the J-Church, for example).
Outer and Inner Richmond has no mass transit, whatsoever. The Inner Sunset has the N-Judah train, which has about 1/4 the capacity it really needs - i.e., don't count on it getting you to work during rush hour. In fact, don't count on it getting you downtown during off hours either, given its notoriety on breakdowns... From the Outer Sunset to downtown the N-Judah easily takes a full hour.
Yes, to go six miles.
Transportation in San Francisco is really a clusterfuck. For the second densest city in the US it is positively shameful. Even sleepy Portland, OR, has a better transit system. In fact you can find mid-sized cities in the Midwest with better transit. SF is really the worst-run city I've ever lived in.
San Francisco is where people move to live the car-free, urban lifestyle, and then yearn for a car and beg for rides all the damned time.
Ultimately, you either give up and buy a vehicle, or you give up and develop legs of iron cycling over hills, or you move to the Mission.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#69Some other related statistics I thought were interesting: According to the Census, the median household income in SF was $72,947. According to census data from 2007-2011, approximately 1/3 of SF residents make over 100k. There's a notable doubling of households making >200k between 2000 and 2011, from ~20k to ~42k. Based on the two datasets, it seems like 2/3rds of the population of SF either cannot or can only barel…
There is no rent bubble. Bubbles are caused by speculation. There isn't a large amount of people renting or owning speculatively in San Francisco. In fact, pro-tenant regulations in San Francisco make it an especially bad place to speculate. I have heard of the city forcing landlords to renew leases for suspected drug users that leave spent needles all over the porch. High rents in San Francisco are caused purely by…
I would argue that there indeed is quite a bit of speculation going on. Most of my friends are spending an unsustainable % of their income on rent, betting that their stock options will pay off. Of course for most, they won't, and once that sinks in the market will adjust.
Re: Median Rent SF: One Bedroom Apartment Map
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Gold Coast in Chicago is a particularly good example. It's Chicago's most prime real estate, preferred by celebrities and high powered executives. Yet it's cheap enough that most people here could live there in a studio or 1br on a code monkey salary and have plenty to spend left over. This is because Chicago allows supply to meet demand, and has the Manhattan-like neighborhood of the Gold Coast in a city without…
The thing I love about Chicago is its design reflects a deeply midwestern sensibility. Illinois is plain, flat land. Chicago isn't an island (MFH), or on a peninsula (SF), or sandwiched between two rivers (PHL). They could've sprawled, but instead they built this compact downtown, because it was orderly . The town my wife grew up in in rural Iowa has less than 2,000 people. Yet, it's got this perfect 10x8 little stre…
Often, it reflects the age of the town.
Grid layouts were very common from the mid-19th century to about World War II. For example, Boston's colonial-era city center is a mess, but Back Bay and Cambridgeport are an orderly grid, and the postwar suburbs outside Route 128 are sprawl. A city like Chicago did not exist in 1776, and so it has a more orderly downtown.
There's also a certain path-dependence at work. Western states were also laid out in a rectangular grid by federal land surveys, and thus arterial roads often fell on the boundaries. Subdivisions, however, can be much messier, depending on when they were developed and what the developer felt like doing. Compare Seattle (prewar) to its outer suburbs across the lake (postwar). Or inner Phoenix (prewar) to outer Phoenix (postwar).