Rents decline for first time since 2004
By: John Upton
Examiner Staff Writer
December 10, 2008
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| San Francisco rents fell in October, for the first time since 2004. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Rental prices for apartments in The City, which had been skyrocketing for nearly two years, fell in October, as an avalanche of pink slips across San Francisco weighed on average household incomes and led freshly unemployed workers to abandon city living, new figures show.
The average rent for a one-bedroom unit advertised on craigslist.org fell 2.4 percent in one month to $2,293, according to the city controller’s October economic barometer report, released this week. That price, however, was still 3.7 percent higher than at the same time last year.
San Francisco rents started falling in October and continued to fall in November, according to Victor Calanog, senior economist at national research firm Reis Inc.
Rents had not previously fallen since 2004, according to San Francisco chief economist Ted Egan.
During most of the current economic downturn, rents have risen as potential home buyers have remained renters while waiting for prices to bottom out, according to Egan.
However, 1,600 people lost their jobs in San Francisco in October, taking the number of jobs lost in 2008 to 8,200, driving some residents out of The City and pushing down the amount people will pay to rent, according to Egan.
Additionally, about 400 city workers will soon be laid off, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
If rents do not quickly rebound, then they will probably continue to fall until the recession ends, according to Egan.
Some property owners are leaving units vacant and hoping the rental market will strengthen, rather than locking themselves into current prices, according to San Francisco Apartment Association Executive Director Janan New.
