This week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported rents increased in the city in February.
Photo: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
The trauma of the past year seemed to spark hyperbole even where it wasn’t quite warranted.
Take the hyped Bay Area escape, which had even local news outlets fooled to some degree. Back in August, SFGate called the exodus from San Francisco both real and historic, citing “staggering” rising inventory as “empty homes in the city flood the market like nowhere else in America.”
Not many people went very far. In March, The San Francisco Chronicle tweaked the thesis, noting reports of an exodus had been “exaggerated.” Only 3.7% of Bay Area households and businesses filed for address changes between March and November of last year, the Chronicle reported, citing U.S. Postal Service data, and 72% of those who did only migrated as far as a different Bay Area county.
Already, it appears San Francisco may be getting desirable again. This week, the Chronicle reported rents increased in the city in February from a month earlier for the first time since the pandemic began.
Last year’s headlines would have you believe landlords were giving apartments away. Turns out, the median rent for a one bedroom in the city Americans loved to hate in 2020 is still well over $2,000.
Write to Laura Forman at [email protected]
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