Rents are down in San Francisco. And in Oakland. And in San Jose. If this is a new fad, we approve.
Right on the heels of ApartmentList’s declaration that, seemingly against all odds, San Francisco rents have declined to the point that New York City (or at least Manhattan) eclipses us once again, competitor Zumper weighs in with an analysis of its own platform.
Zumper doesn’t agree with ApartmentList on the subject of New York’s resurgence (not that we expected them to). The site still calls San Francisco the most expensive city in America for renters, averaging $3,460 for a single bedroom. In New York, it comes to $3,200.
Still, that’s down 1.4 percent from last month and 1.1 percent from last year. And the price of two bedrooms remained more or less flat for four weeks. New York, on the other hand, is on the rise in Zumper’s listings, so the two sites may yet end up agreeing.
But here’s the potentially big news: For the first time ever, Zumper recorded a simultaneous decline in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland for the same month.
A one bedroom in both Oakland and San Jose dropped 2.6 percent in July. The price of an apartment in both cities is now almost exactly the same, with San Jose commanding a mere $10 premium over the town, at $2,220/month.
(Although, note that that‘s a significant decline from last year for San Jose, but a crushing 11.6 percent hike for Oakland.)
As we have been saying all year, it’s hard to get excited about figures like these, given that most of us are still paying $2,200 to $3,400 for an apartment, and that‘s still insane. But the thee-part rearward lurch across the entire region is eye catching, to say the least.
ApartmentList pegs the San Francisco average at $3,520 for one bed to Zumper‘s $3,460. Trulia reports an median of $2,800 on its platform (they’re usually well below the others), down from $2,900 in January and $3,300 last year.
Rental site Abodo will release new numbers in the middle of the month, but those from three weeks ago gave a San Francisco average of $3,700, down an unbelievable five percent from the previous month.
RentJungle, which is usually a month or so behind the others, provides a June figure of $3,907. They’re the only ones recording a slight increase over last year.
For August, we’re aiming our hopes low. As low as they can plausibly get, statistically speaking.
- Rent Report, August 2016 [Zumper]
- SF Cheaper Than NY Again [Curbed SF]
- Report Shows Rent Dip [Curbed SF]
- SF Market Report [Trulia]
- Average Rent, San Francisco [RentJungle]