As anyone who has even considered renting an apartment in San Francisco over the past few years knows, rents are unfathomably high, and getting an apartment is extraordinarily competitive. But after seeing double-digit percentage-point increases in 2011 and 2012, rents in the city appear to be leveling off. According the listings compiled by rental website Lovely, San Francisco's median rent of $3,285 for the second quarter of this year was up only 2.66 percent over the same time last year. Oakland, however, saw a 12.12 percent increase, to a median rent of $1,795—a sign of the exodus to the still vastly cheaper East Bay. The South Bay is way up, too, by the way: San Jose saw an even bigger jump of just over 20 percent.
San Francisco's median rent was up from the previous quarter's $3,200 median, but Lovely points out that this is to be expected, given that the spring quarter covers the start of peak rental season. Throughout the Bay Area, studios saw the biggest price jump over the past year, while the rent of one-bedrooms was unchanged and two- and three-bedrooms actually decreased slightly.
Lovely's listings pointed to Japantown as San Francisco's most expensive neighborhood for rentals in the second quarter, with median prices hovering around $4,500. Presidio Heights, Sea Cliff, and Pacific Heights were close behind, followed by Dogpatch, Noe Valley, and Russian Hill. The city's cheapest rental neighborhoods, all with median prices below $2,000, were Excelsior, Silver Terrance, and Mission Terrace.
· Lovely [Official Site]
· The Bad News: As Expected Rental Rates Have Increased Dramatically Over the Past Year [Curbed SF]
· Are You Sitting Down? SF's Median Rent Rate is $3,200/Month [Curbed SF]
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