During the last few years, the increase in house rentals in San Francisco was so dramatic that it is now officially, the most expensive city for tenants to live in according to Business Insider.
A housing flyer given to the Business Insider gives details about the current rental fees in San Francisco, as seen from the same report.
According to Zumper on Curbed, a one-bedroom apartment has a median rent equal to $3,460 per month. Basing from the flyer, one could see that the rates are quite high: studio apartment rents range from 2,500 to 3,100 US dollars, one-bedroom apartment rents range from 3,000 to 5,300 US dollars, and two-bedroom apartment rent range from 3,700 to as much as 7000 US dollars.
The rental rates among apartment units still vary, depending on what amenities are available to them, like parking, if public parking or only street parking is available.
A decade ago, as told by Business Insider, a tenant can have for himself a 3-bedroom apartment for a price just higher than the prevailing rates of a studio unit. The flyer given to the news outled did not indicate prices for 3-bedroom apartments anymore.
This could mean that just like New York City, where apartment units become as small as 250 to 350 sq. ft, as reported in The Huffington Post, many cities, and probably San Francisco, may follow the trend of making apartments smaller to keep up with the growing demand.
Can many people still afford the tremendous rental rates? According to the same report, rents escalated because of housing needs of people in technology-driven fields. These usually have high-paying jobs and can afford the rents. However, with the median rent-to-income rate of 60% in New York as reported recently by AMNewYork, San Francisco may not be far behind.
An op-ed piece from TakingNote notes that many people are actually burdened with high rent as opposed to having low income, leaving them only a little for their more basic needs, not to mention worrying higher prices due to inflation.
