S.F. apartment rents jumped in March
The data from real estate startup Apartment List is the strongest sign yet that the rental market is rebounding from the devastation of the pandemic.
San Francisco’s median apartment rent rose 3.4% in March from the prior month, the biggest increase since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to a new report.
The data from real estate startup Apartment List is the strongest sign yet that the rental market is rebounding from the devastation of the pandemic, which allowed most office workers to work from anywhere. More than 80,000 households left San Francisco between March and November last year, up 77.5% from the prior year period, according to Postal Service data.
San Francisco median rents are still down 23.2% from the prior year, by far the biggest drop in the country among major U.S. cities, according to Apartment List. New York is second with an 18.7% drop.
The median San Francisco onebedroom is $2,082 per month and the median twobedroom is $2,410 per month.
San Francisco’s monthtomonth rebound was the highest among major coastal cities. Boston saw a 2.9% increase, Seattle had a 2.2% jump, while New York rose 0.9%.
San Jose’s median rent was up 0.7% compared to the prior month and down 13.6% from the prior year. Oakland dipped by 0.5% from the previous month and was down 15.2% from the prior year.
Renters are coming back to San Francisco and demand is up, said Oz Erickson, chairman of developer Emerald Fund.
At the 418unit 100 Van Ness apartment tower, rents were down as much as 30% from 2019 during the pandemic, and are
now around 20% lower, he said.
The tower was 22% vacant at the end of last year but has improved to 6% vacancy, he said.
“It’s so much more fun to be in the city,” said Erickson, who expects a higher number of people to return in June and July as vaccination rates improve. Rents could recover by summertime to similar levels compared to 2019, he said.
The Apartment List data differed from another real estate firm, Zumper, which said San Francisco rents were flat in March. The two firms have different methodologies, with Zumper focusing more on new buildings.