San Francisco rent prices have fallen double digits this past month. But how exactly are these decreases related to COVID-19?
Data from the apartment rental website Zumper shows that San Francisco rents were down nearly 12% from a year ago. The decline is the largest in the country. And it’s a record drop for a city known to have some of the nation’s highest rent prices.
This report comes just weeks after tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, announced that many of their employees can work from home for as long as they see fit. With that announcement, employees are able to move to places with lower costs of rent and living. And they seem to be embracing the freedom to work from anywhere. In fact, Zumper has reported that rents are up in nearby Sacramento.
Zumper CEO Anthemos Georgiades suggests that a drop in San Francisco rent prices could also be a result of landlords factoring in ongoing unemployment and increased vacancies. According to Redfin economist Schery Bokhari, these unprecedented rent declines could have a lasting impact on the real estate market of the city.
