Something like a glimmer of optimism appeared for San Francisco renters last week, when a single national rent report suggested that median rents for some units in the city had dipped below those in New York.
It was only one report, though, which means that it was either an early bellwether of things to come, or a statistical blip caused by a weird sample. It’s still too early to tell, but if we cast our nets a bit further for more information, rental site Abodo pitched a report of their own today. So, at last, are we cheaper than New York?
First, the bad news: No. Not even close. Abodo tells Curbed SF that they record a median rent of over $3,700 for a single bedroom in the city. That’s not only higher than their New York median, it’s also significantly higher than most other rental sites.
But if you have some kind of betting pool going on whether or not we will dip below the Empire City as the summer wears on, take solace knowing that that New York listings on Abodo have been flat all year. On the other hand, San Francisco prices on the site have been dipping, including a huge five percent drop just in the last month.
That’s the seventh biggest decline nationwide. And although Abodo reports higher prices than other rental sites, it’s also reporting greater declines: The San Francisco median on Zumper dropped 2.2 percent during the same period. ApartmentList and Trulia show prices mostly flat. RentJungle dropped 2.5 percent.
(Note that RentJungle briefly reported a month-over-month increase of 80 percent last week before eventually correcting it; a RentJungle spokesperson told Curbed SF it was "probably a glitch.")
Oakland dipped even more on Abodo, a whopping 11 percent. But prices in the East Bay city are up so much year-over-year that it doesn’t make much practical difference.
As usual, nobody quite agrees. But since they’re all unscientifically sampling the listings on their own sites, that’s to be expected. You're still allowed to be briefly heartened by the general consensus that San Francisco trends are pointing down, though.
Look out, New York, here we come. (We hope.)
- July Rent Report [Abodo]
- SF Now Second Most Expensive [Curbed SF]
- Average Rent in SF [RentJungle]