The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Bay Area rental market is evident from the nearly 25% reduction of the median rent price of a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco compared to last year.
Cheaper Rentals
Zumper, a real estate website, said the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is down by 1.5% from December at $2,660 per month and a surprising 24% from last year. A one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco cost $3,500 a month last year. And two years ago, the same apartment’s rent soared to about $3,700 per month.
The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the city also dropped by 22.2%, from $4,500 per month to $3,500 per month.
In San Jose, last year’s one-bedroom rents have decreased by 14.7% to $2,090 per month. At the same time, Oakland recorded a reduction of 22% from last year to only $1,950 per month.
Despite the massive reductions in the median of rent in the city because of the pandemic, San Francisco maintains its label as the most expensive rental city in the country, due to other expensive cities such as Boston and New York also reeling from the health crisis.
Many related the drop in rental fees as being caused to the number of people working remotely, reducing the demand for apartments. For instance, In the Central Valley, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento is about 14% higher than last year at $1,430 per month. In comparison, a one-bedroom rent in Fresno jumped by 17% from the past year to $1,160 a month.
The standard median for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,224 per month, as the median for a two-bedroom rent is $1,491, CBS Local reported.
