The average Bay Area home sells in 22 days (24 in the San Francisco and Oakland, 20 in San Jose), which is a declining figure but also still the highest in the nation. But that’s only a third of the story; after all, at the last census, 65 percent of San Francisco residents were renters, and the rent market is a whole other beast.
So how quickly do landlords find tenants in these times of astronomical rents? The rental site OneRent reviewed listing history for Bay Area cities (a sample pool of about 8,000 units, depending on the month) to calculate the average time between the posting of an ad and the signing of a lease.
The fastest market, according to OneRent, is El Cerrito where a rental moves on average in five days. Of course, El Cerrito is a city of 24,000 where renters are the minority — so the sample size may not be that large — which means that the fastest market could be Berkeley, averaging at only six days.
Richmond and Menlo Park are tied for third, averaging a week each. San Francisco, on the other hand, comes in at a slightly sluggish 15 days, and San Jose 16. In San Ramon, rental offers linger for almost exactly a month.
If you‘re curious, the average rent in El Cerrito is $2,950 a month (according to Trulia), and around 40 percent of residents are renters. In Berkeley things run $3,500 a month, spread across 57 percent of households. Dawdling San Ramon rents at $3,695 to a mere 28 percent of its population. And of course, the average rent in San Francisco depends on who you ask.
- Bay Area Homes Sell in 22 Days [Curbed SF]
- San Francisco census
- Graduates Pay 79 Percent to Rent [Curbed SF]
- OneRent