Having ended last year 8 percent higher than the year before, the weighted average asking rent for an apartment in San Francisco has since ticked up 2.6 percent to $3,400, which is 10 percent higher than at the same time last year but still 17 percent ($700) lower than prior to the pandemic and 24 percent below its 2015-era peak.
The uptick in the average asking rent over the past few weeks was driven by a $100 bump in the average asking rents for studios and one-bedrooms, which ticked up to around $2,100 and $2,900 respectively. The being said, the average asking rent for studios and one-bedrooms in San Francisco are still 18 percent below their pre-Covid marks and the average asking rent for a studio in the city is still down nearly 30 percent from peak.
At the same time, the number of units listed for rent in San Francisco actually ticked up a few points over the past month with the uptick in rents. And while inventory levels are 60 percent lower than they were at the same time last year they’re still 10 percent higher than they were prior to the pandemic with 17,000 fewer people in the labor force and 21,000 fewer people employed.
Our tracking is based on data from over 100,000 listings going back to 2004 that we maintain, normalize and index on a monthly basis. We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.
The high rents are why people don’t want to stay in San Francisco. Drugs and Crime, Homeless. My kids left and did better and don’t pay the high rents. I’m going to do it too !
Rents wouldn’t be so high if people didn’t want to stay…
Michael is correct. The high rents prove that SF is a desirable place that people want to be.
I’m excited to see new buildings continue to open in subsequent years, which should continue to depress rents…although that also means the average asking price may go up due to the change in mix?