After years of nearly ceaseless growth, the median price for a one-bedroom rental in San Francisco finally dropped back in November. At the time, it was unclear if the dip would be nothing more than a one-month blip, but now December's data from rental website Zumper is in and the slide—mild though it may be in comparison to the increases of the past few years—continues. The median price for a one-bedroom slipped from $3,500 in November to $3,490 in December. That's down from a peak of $3,670 in October.
So how does San Francisco stack up against the rest of the country? Well, we're still on top, but New York is making up some ground and is sitting at $3,280 per month for a one bedroom. While San Francisco's median is down 3.6 percent over the past quarter and up just 2.9 percent over the past year, New York is up 1.5 percent over the quarter and 5.8 percent year-on-year. Boston sits in the third spot at $2,390, and Oakland is holding strong in fourth, up another .9 percent this month to hit $2,210.
Two-bedrooms in San Francisco slipped even further than one-bedrooms this month, with the median now at $4,630. That's down 4.1 percent from last month and actually a touch cheaper than one year ago. And now no neighborhood in the city tops $4,000 for a one-bedroom median, with the Financial District—the city's most expensive neighborhood—down 2.8 percent over the past month to hit $3,890 for a one-bedroom.
As always, the report analyzes asking rents on market-rate apartments in Zumper's database during the month analyzed. Therefore, it does not reflect an average of what all San Franciscans are paying, but represents a snapshot of the kinds of prices apartment seekers looking on Zumper were seeing.
· New Report Shows SF Rent Price's Down, While Oakland's Spike [Curbed SF]
· National Rent Report: January 2016 [Zumper]