Having held in March, the weighted average asking rent for an apartment in Oakland was effectively unchanged in April as well, holding at just under $2,450 a month.
As such, while the average asking rent in Oakland is now 7 percent higher than it was at the same time last year it is still 8 percent lower than prior to the pandemic and 18 percent below its 2016-era peak, with listing activity having dropped 30 percent over the past year but still over 60 percent higher than prior to the pandemic, at which point the average asking rent in Oakland was $220 lower than today.
Only 8% lower than the start of the pandemic. I wonder if a change in mix is a factor here, as Oakland has opened many new construction, higher priced units since March 2020.
I assume these are nominal dollars, not inflation adjusted. If you adjust for the significant inflation we’re seeing then rents are actually down by more.
Oakland has recovered more so than SF where asking rents are about 19% below their pre-pandemic levels. This should not be a surprise. SF saw a big drop in population during the pandemic. Falling to 815K per the Census Bureau in June of 21 from 874K the year prior. Oakland has actually continued to slowly grow during the pandemic.
Anecdotally, I know a number of folks who have moved to Oakland from SF to get a nicer apartment and better weather for the same rent. Most of them can now partially telework and avoid the daily commute which had kept them from moving out of SF. Over time there will be a shift of jobs and residents (relatively speaking) out of SF and to Oakland/the East Bay so watch for Oakland rents to “outperform” SF rents.
Remember, before he was “Seattle Dave”, he was “Oakland Dave”.