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January 2020 San Francisco Rent Report
Welcome to the January 2020 San Francisco Rent Report. San Francisco rents declined over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the San Francisco rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
January 2020 San Francisco Rent Report
Welcome to the January 2020 San Francisco Rent Report. San Francisco rents declined over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the San Francisco rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
San Francisco rents declined significantly over the past month
San Francisco rents have declined 0.4% over the past month, but have remained steady at 0.1% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in San Francisco stand at $2,458 for a one-bedroom apartment and $3,088 for a two-bedroom. This is the fourth straight month that the city has seen rent decreases after an increase in August. San Francisco's year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 1.1%, as well as the national average of 1.4%.
Rents rising across the San Francisco Metro
While rents have remained steady in the city of San Francisco throughout the past year, cities across the metro have seen a different trend. Rents have risen in 7 of of the largest 10 cities in the San Francisco metro for which we have data. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Oakland has seen rents fall by 1.1% over the past month, the biggest drop in the metro. It also has the least expensive rents in the San Francisco metro, with a two-bedroom median of $2,202.
- Richmond has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 5.6%. The median two-bedroom there costs $2,797, while one-bedrooms go for $2,227.
- San Mateo has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the San Francisco metro, with a two-bedroom median of $4,449; rents were up 0.3% over the past month and 1.4% over the past year.
Similar cities nationwide show more affordable rents compared to San Francisco
Rent growth in San Francisco has been relatively stable over the past year - some other large cities have seen more substantial increases. Compared to most similar cities across the country, San Francisco is less affordable for renters.
- Other cities across the state have seen rents slightly increase, with California as a whole logging rent growth of 1.1% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 1.2% in San Diego, 1.0% in San Jose, and 0.4% in Los Angeles.
- San Francisco's median two-bedroom rent of $3,088 is above the national average of $1,192. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.4% over the past year compared to the stagnant growth in San Francisco.
- While rents in San Francisco remained moderately stable this year, similar cities saw increases, including Phoenix (+3.8%), Austin (+3.1%), and Dallas (+2.2%); note that median 2BR rents in these cities go for $1,099, $1,471, and $1,136 respectively.
- Renters will generally find more expensive prices in San Francisco than most other large cities. For example, Phoenix has a median 2BR rent of $1,099, where San Francisco is more than two-and-a-half times that price.
For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S. at this link.
Methodology - Recent Updates:
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. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.
Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.
Methodology:
Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.
Read more about our methodology here.
About Rent Reports:
Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.
We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.