Bay Area renters finally receive some good news

Price declines in San Jose, San Francisco among largest in nation, new study finds

Falling rents? What a concept — especially in the Bay Area, ground zero for out-ofsight rent increases over the past few years.

Yet a new study indicates the trend could be changing. Abodo, an apartment search website, says monthly rents dropped markedly from August to September in San Jose and San Francisco. Those cities

were on Abodo’s national Top 10 list for the “Biggest Fall” in rents for one-bedroom apartments during that period.

The website’s National Apartment Report for September shows the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Jose dropping from $2,790 to $2,455, a 12 percent decline — and the second-largest decrease among U.S. cities. A one-bedroom in San Francisco fell 6 percent, from $3,952 to $3,698, the seventh-largest decline.

Of course, Abodo’s findings for a single month must be taken in context — as one piece of a continually unfolding picture. Still, the website’s numbers fit a pattern: Over the last year, a variety of organizations and experts have said the pace of rent hikes is slowing in much of the Bay Area, and perhaps is flattening.

Some observers are emphatic: “The prices have reached their saturation point,” said Ron Stern, CEO of Bay Rentals, a housing relocation service. “Tenants cannot be soaked for one extra dollar.”

Slowing market

Particularly in Santa Clara County, he said, “the rental market has slowed down to almost a crawl. We do a lot of credit reports, and the number of reports we’re doing has declined . ... Landlords say, ‘Is my price too high? I’m not getting any calls.’ ”

The cooling apparently has yet to reach Oakland. From August to September, according to Abodo, rents climbed from $2,254 to $2,299, a 2 percent increase — the nation’s 23rd-largest increase in rent price.

The notion that Oakland rents still are playing catch-up with the Peninsula and San Francisco was also borne out by data reported in July by Novato-based RealFacts. Its second-quarter report showed Oakland rents rising a hefty 5.4 percent on a year-over-year basis. Still, that was down from 7.2 and 13.7 percent increases, respectively, in the previous two quarters.

Across the Bay Area,