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SF rents in relation to the US.
Click ahead to see an example of the type of apartment you can get for $3,100 a month in San Francisco.
SF rents in relation to the US.
Click ahead to see an example of the type of apartment you can get for $3,100 a month in San Francisco.
Photo: Apartment List.com
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SF rents in relation to the US.
Click ahead to see an example of the type of apartment you can get for $3,100 a month in San Francisco.
SF rents in relation to the US.
Click ahead to see an example of the type of apartment you can get for $3,100 a month in San Francisco.
Photo: Apartment List.com
Has San Francisco’s rent finally convinced you that renting a one-bedroom alone isn’t economically feasible? According to a new report, sharing a two-bedroom might not be cheaper for long.
Year over year in SF’s rental market
Overall, San Francisco’s rent didn’t grow dramatically this year: In June rents were up 1.2 percent, according to ApartmentList.com. This is less than the national inflation of 1.6 percent. But what is dramatic is the steady creeping upward of two-bedroom rents. Apartment List found that over the past six years, the median rent for a 2-bedroom apartment in San Francisco has increased by 10.7 percent.
In 2014, the median rent for a two-bedroom in San Francisco was $2,804 … Today, median rents in San Francisco stand at $3,100 for a two-bedroom.
Apartment List isn’t the only online rental site to notice this trend. Rental site Zumper’s most recent National Rent Report showed that “one bedroom rent have another flat month, staying at $3,700. Two bedrooms, on the other hand, jumped 4.9 percent to settle at $4,720.”
Why the disparity?
The disparity in median rent price reports is down to methodology. Every rental site collects data differently, and their findings reflect calculations based on their particular methodology. Zumper says it aggregates data from “over one million active listings [and] includes new constructions but excludes listings that are no longer available or are currently occupied.”
ApartmentList, on the other hand, takes a different approach. “Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings,” says the site’s methodology section. To address this issue, Apartment List uses median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then “extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data.”
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Whichever method we think more accurate, what is not in dispute is that renting a two-bedroom is getting more expensive in San Francisco.
And if the past six years are an indicator, it looks poised to get even more so.
Why? Because, frankly, one bedrooms are already pushing maximum affordability, while previously two bedrooms were more affordable if shared. The relatively less expensive unit has the most room to grow in price, and growing it is.
Moving may not be the answer
Lest you hope that moving south or east of the city will make life easier, you should know that this June, San Jose is the fourth-most expensive city for renters looking to share, with two-bedrooms hovering around $3,000 a month by Zumper’s figures and $2,670 by Apartment List’s.
Oakland comes in sixth, with two-bedrooms at around $2,800 according to Zumper and $2,200 according to Apartment List.
What can you rent for SF’s new median 2-BR rent?
If we average Zumper and ApartmentList data, we come up with $3,910. That means $46,920 per year on rent alone, sharing a two-bedroom in San Francisco.
The gallery above shows you what you get for your money, as well as data used to make these projections.
Overall, it seems if you want to spend less by renting a two-bedroom, you better do it soon. Renting these units is getting more expensive by the day.
Anna Marie Erwert writes from both the renter and new buyer perspective, having (finally) achieved both statuses. She focuses on national real estate trends, specializing in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. Follow Anna on Twitter: @AnnaMarieErwert.
Article source: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/Bad-news-if-you-re-planning-to-save-money-on-rent-14082788.php