Report: San Francisco remains worst place in US to find affordable housing – and it’s getting worse
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco is still wearing the crown as the worst place in the United States to find affordable housing.
New numbers out this week show rental prices up again, lengthening the city’s lead over second-place New York City.
But some Bay Area cities are seeing rents go down.
Ugly is the word as rents soar in the Bay Area, especially in cities which are close to the highest-paying jobs.
Let’s start with San Francisco where the average one-bedroom apartment now goes for nearly $3,500 a month.
That’s down about $500 from a peak in June but still leads the nation.
Mountain View is the second-most expensive place for Bay Area renters.
In the last year, the average one-bedroom apartment has soared more than $800 to $3,169.
Redwood City rents jumped 3.7 percent since last month to $2,800.
Emeryville in the East Bay and Palo Alto on the Peninsula round out the top five at more than $2,650.
The real estate website Zumper.com says the fastest rising rents in the Bay Area are in Mountain View, Petaluma, and Walnut Creek.
Zumper says the most affordable rents can be found in Vallejo, Santa Rosa, and Napa.
But we should point out that rents in the last two towns will likely be impacted by the wine country fires.
Some bay area cities are actually seeing prices go down.
Zumper says Oakland and Berkeley rents dropped more than 10 percent in the last year.Here is the full report.