Bay Area Named The Worst Rental Market

  • April 17, 2015
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Featured image via Wikipedia.
Featured image via Wikipedia.
It probably doesn’t surprise most of us to live here, but if we rent, we are paying out the you know what for just rent. If we own, we’re paying even more. At least those are the findings of Forbes’ annual ranking of rental cities.

The worst city for rentals, according to Forbes, is San Francisco. On average, renters pay $2,800 a month and their rent increases almost 13 percent a year.

MSA: San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division

Average monthly rent, Q4 2014: $2,802

Year-over-year % change in apartment rent: 12.8%

Median houshold income, Q4 2014: $85,087

Avg. rent as a share of household income: 40% Apartment vacancy rate, Q4 2014: 3.6%

Average monthly mortage payment, Q4 2014: $5,851

Mortgage payment v. rent: $3,049 cheaper to rent

Right behind San Francisco on the “worst” list is Oakland.

MSA: Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Division

Average monthly rent, Q4 2014: $1,815

Year-over-year % change in apartment rent: 10.5%

Median houshold income, Q4 2014: $76,493

Avg. rent as a share of household income: 28% Apartment vacancy rate, Q4 2014: 2.9%

Average monthly mortage payment, Q4 2014: $4,182

Mortgage payment v. rent: $2,367 cheaper to rent

Right behind Oakland is San Jose.

MSA: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area

Average monthly rent, Q4 2014: $2,291

Year-over-year % change in apartment rent: 11.3%

Median houshold income, Q4 2014: $93,902

Avg. rent as a share of household income: 29% Apartment vacancy rate, Q4 2014: 3.5%

Average monthly mortage payment, Q4 2014: $5,050

Mortgage payment v. rent: $2,759 cheaper to rent

Believe it or not, New York is behind even San Jose. Their average monthly rent is a bit higher than San Francisco, at about $3,300, but the annual increases are much lower.

METRO (Not an MSA): New York County (NY)

Average monthly rent, Q4 2014: $3,290

Year-over-year % change in apartment rent: 3.4%

Median houshold income, Q4 2014: $74,915

Avg. rent as a share of household income: 53% Apartment vacancy rate, Q4 2014: 2.3%

Average monthly mortage payment, Q4 2014: $7,917

Mortgage payment v. rent: $4,627 cheaper to rent

Rounding out the bottom cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, Northern New Jersey, Boston, Orange County, California and Palm Beach, Florida. I guess we should be happy that California has “only” six of the 10 worst rental markets.

Of course, there’s a reason our rental market is so tight – everyone wants to live here. We have the best weather, the best companies, but biggest variety of recreational activities and the best people.