Under the headline, “For the first time, Zillow’s Oakland rent index surpasses $3k,” SFGate continues on to report: “In September 2016, the rental score (which includes listing prices of all homes, not just studios) hit $3,003 a month, up 70.9 percent from $1,757 in January 2013.”
But as we noted when SFGate misreported the same stat for San Francisco last year, Zillow’s Rental Index is based on estimated, versus actual, rents. And while the index does take into account the estimated rents for single family homes and condos, it doesn’t include…apartments!
Once again, Zillow’s index and the average rent of $3,003 in Oakland, as reported by SFGate and others, does not include apartments.
In fact, based on our sampling of over 200 active listings for rentals in Oakland, including apartments, the weighted average asking rent in the city is currently running around $2,645 per month.
And assuming the same mix of units, while that average rent is up a little under a percent since the beginning of the year, with seasonality in play, the current average asking rent in Oakland is actually 3.5 percent lower on a year-over-year basis.
thanks for keeping it real. The bots who do reporting for the chronicle these days are pretty pathetic.
[Editor’s Note: The Business Times and CBS have run the “$3K” report as well.]
The Bay Area is full of itself at times and welcomes over exaggerated embellishments. Who cares about facts.
Wish we’d get more reporting on average in-place rents. It’s important for people to see the delta between rent control units and current market rents.
Such a stupid mistake. That’s not even complicated statistics or anything.
Probably an often cited stat for all housing activists to further their agenda — housing shortage, greedy landlords, more pro-tenant policies, etc.!
Thanks for putting this out there…really stupid AND so exhausting to have to correct this time and time again. lame newspaper freelancer that
Why dont you show the area in which the 200 active listings were listed? Takes away form the point you are trying to make. Lets not play dumb, the part of Oakland they are talking about, and that is impacted the most, is West of Lake Merritt. May not be $3,000 median, but it is still #5 hottest rental market in the country. With #1 SF, and #4 SJ. $2,645 is still a lot for this area, let’s stop acting like it isn’t.