[Open House Madness via Abby Pontzer]
San Franciscans are well aware of our whale-sized rents. Recently, they've becoming more behemoth-like than ever, jumping 22 percent year-over-year in the last quarter of 2012. But there are signs that rents have finally stopped breaching. SF Gate reports today that though "it may be cold comfort to apartment hunters, a recent report says that rents have jumped so high that for now they appear to have plateaued." Indeed, rents were already headed slightly down between the 3rd and 4th quarter of last year as San Francisco's hopeful tenants began to balk at sky high prices. Rather than pay so much here in the city, more people have migrated to the East Bay, a trend reflected in Oakland's rising rents—"now averaging $1,961, up 17 percent for the year and 28.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010." What say, readers? Will the giant cetacean that is SF rent finally rest?
· SF Apartment Market is Hot [SF Gate]
· The Bad News: As Suspected, Rental Rates Have Increased Dramatically Over the Past Year [CurbedSF]