As I looked at the SFGate.com headlines. "S.F. apartment rent rises as vacancy rates fall" I thought why are these people renting. This is such an opportunity to buy. Mortgage interest rates are still incredibly low, home values are still significantly lower than the peak. The inventory of homes is of course low because it is seasonal in the summer for everyone to be on vacation and many sellers will wait until after Labor Day to sell their homes. The first week of September we customarily see inventory of homes available climb as this is reciprocal to buyers being available and ready. If you or a friend or family member are looking to buy a home please don't hesitate to call or refer them to me. I promise to make the buying experience less daunting and with my full service make buying a home a enjoyable experience.
S.F. apartment rent rises as vacancy rates fall
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Apartment hunting in San Francisco has turned into a competitive sport with hopeful renters swarming open houses and experiencing more rejections than contestants on "Survivor."
"You have to pounce as soon as you see an ad you like," said Chris Covert, a manager at Symantec who was among 18 people vying for a $1,395 Nob Hill studio last week. "It's definitely nuts."
Driving the demand is a new wave of tech workers at the city's rapidly growing social media and technology companies.
"We're seeing a new demographic entering the housing market - Generation Y," said Sarah Bridge, owner of RealFacts, a Novato firm that tracks the apartment market. "Their preference is to live in the heart of a vital, thriving community like San Francisco. They want to be where the action is, and they don't mind being in a small studio apartment as long as it's well-located."
San Francisco has always been a city of renters. Only about a third of its residents are homeowners - half the national homeownership rate. Post-housing crash, with mortgages difficult to get and ample evidence of how quickly home values can slide, people are more inclined than before to rent. The national homeownership rate, which peaked at 69 percent in 2004 during the housing boom, is now down to 66 percent.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/10/MND91KLCIE.DTL#ixzz1UjXEYYZS
