Bay Area Rental Rebound

Foster City rents for a 2BR apt. were under $3,000 a
few months ago. Now they're above $3,000 per Zillow.

In January we noted how San Francisco rents have stopped dropping, a possible indicator that the net exodus of people has halted. The rent rebound continues.

Rents in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area continue creeping back up, although they have a long way to go before they catch up to their pre-pandemic highs, new data show.

The rent hike in San Francisco was 3% over the past month. The average one-bedroom apartment now goes for $2,157 a month and the average two-bedroom apartment rents for $2,498, according to a report published Tuesday by the Apartment List rent service.

That’s the third straight month of rent increases, although prices are still down nearly 20% compared to last year...

Elsewhere in the Bay Area, the average two-bedroom apartment was $$2,370 in Walnut Creek, $2,740 in Fremont, and $2,920 in San Mateo.

The big unknown, as we have noted before, is the eviction moratorium that expires on June 30. Will the State resist pleas to renew it yet again? (The initial moratorium was three months, and it's been extended to 15 months.) When evictions resume, what will be the price effects when the supply is released to the market? Will evicted tenants leave the Bay Area or will the reviving economy permit them to stay and rent again?

There's no question that rental units have been removed from the market because owners have been strongly motivated to sell. The uncertainty triggered by State intervention in landlord-tenant contracts, the rising demand for home ownership, and the prospect of higher Federal capital gains taxes have caused some landlords to decide that now is the time to exit.

For those who stay in the business, they'll know a lot more come July.