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San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

bloomberg.com

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Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#101

Post by pklausler »

paavokoya wrote: post #3
simook wrote: post #2

Portland resident here. What this article doesn't cover, is now locals are victim of gentrification. Rent prices are almost 2x, out of state buyers are throwing all cash offers on houses, and overall housing supply is low... I'm sure the commercial market is just as bad. Interesting times.

Having grown up in Portland, it's remarkable how quickly the housing prices have skyrocketed in less than 5 years.

Metro (being the Portland area's multi-county regional government) voted last year to not expand the urban growth boundary. So the supply of single-family homes with yards is basically fixed, while demand is growing. Expect home prices to continue to grow (Portland's rate is top in the U.S.) as new housing construction continues to be constrained to dense multi-family structures for the next five years until Metro votes on UGB expansion again.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#102

Post by davidw »

jgmmo wrote: post #88
davidw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grew up there. Still seems like it's struggling to put together much of a tech industry. More seems to be happening here in Bend in some ways, despite being a significantly smaller town. And the weather is way better over here too!

Fortunately the future is remote work. Local jobs don't matter nearly as much once you can work for anyone remotely.

In that case, Bend or Ashland or something else closer to more outdoor stuff is a better bet. Or Lakeview if you really want cheap housing.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#103

Post by 0xffff2 »

jgmmo wrote: post #88
davidw wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Grew up there. Still seems like it's struggling to put together much of a tech industry. More seems to be happening here in Bend in some ways, despite being a significantly smaller town. And the weather is way better over here too!

Fortunately the future is remote work. Local jobs don't matter nearly as much once you can work for anyone remotely.

I wonder if you can come up with any tangible evidence to back up your claim...

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#104

Post by savanaly »

moheeb wrote: post #55
davidw wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the answer. Deregulate housing/small businesse spaces/offices and let the market do its work. It's crazy the amount of regulation there is that pretty much dictates single family detached homes for large swaths of the country. Here in Bend, for instance, you must have a driveway with not one, but two parking spots. Land of the free indeed... http://marketurbanism.com/ Also, this book, although it's pretty hig…

"Here in Bend, for instance, you must have a driveway with not one, but two parking spots. Land of the free indeed..." Where I live people don't leave any room for parking on their own property and all of the streets are completely jammed with cars, every inch. You don't hardly dare move your car if you've been able to find a spot. Is that freer?

I don't know what point you're trying to make here. Everyone who lives there was free to put a driveway on their property, presumably, but just chose to deal with the hassle of tight street parking in exchange for more room for yard or house on their property. Allowing them this tradeoff is very much freer!

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#105

Post by erehweb »

dkopi wrote: post #21
simook wrote: post #2

Portland resident here. What this article doesn't cover, is now locals are victim of gentrification. Rent prices are almost 2x, out of state buyers are throwing all cash offers on houses, and overall housing supply is low... I'm sure the commercial market is just as bad. Interesting times.

It's 2016, and people still think that if someone moves into your neighborhood, someone else has to move out. Rising demand is great. It means people want to enjoy your neighborhood. You can either meet that demand by increasing supply, or you can restrict the demand, and let certain people be outpriced by the market. Locals aren't victims of gentrification. They're victims of zoning laws and nimbyism.

Gentrification makes housing more expensive in the short term. First order, that's good for landlords and bad for renters. Mixed for owner-occupiers - they have more wealth, but higher property taxes.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#108

Post by nostrademons »

davidw wrote: post #68
nostrademons wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early adopters started moving in 2006 (remember the YScraper?). It really accelerated around 2010, when the economy started recovering. Prices started rising in earnest in the second half of 2011. I know a number of people here who are praying for a tech crash so they can afford housing again.

Prices were already going up a lot in the dot com days.

Yeah, and then they went down in the dot-com crash, and then they went up again from 2005-2007, and then they went down again in 2009.

I moved to Mountain View in 2009. In late 2008 (as the crisis was hitting the stock market, but before landlords had realized it would affect them), a realtor was showing me around, and I asked about a swanky corporate apartment complex we drove by. "Oh, that's out of your price range - they charge $2000+/month." I ended up living there for $1400/month in 2009-2010, then they started jacking up the rent. When I left in 2013, they turned around and rented it for $2700/month.

Re: San Francisco Tech Firms See Workers Flee from $4,500 Rents

#110

Post by tryitnow »

Yes, rents are high, but if you invest even a little bit of time you can find a fine residence in the Bay Area for a lot less than $4,500.

I rent a two bedroom house in Oakland for $2,200. My commute is not too much longer than it would be if I live in certain parts of San Francisco.

There's simply little advantage to living right in the heart of a major city.

You have to ask yourself:

"Instead of renting in a high-profile location, what else could I buy with an extra $24,000 a year?"

Yes, average rents are too high, but nobody says you have to pay the average rent.

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