In the San Francisco metropolitan area, the median home price was nearly twice as much as a 20-year rent — $1.2 million compared to $609,000.
The Bay Area is one of the most expensive regions in the United States to rent. But it’s even more costly to buy a home — even in the long term.
That’s not the case everywhere. In the United States, the median home price in June is roughly the same as the median price for a rental stretched over 20 years, about $352,000 compared to $338,000, according to June 2024 data from real estate companies Zillow and Apartment List.
But in the San Francisco metropolitan area, the median home price was nearly twice as much as a 20-year rent — $1.2 million compared to $609,000, a ratio of about 1.9. That was the second-highest price-to-rent ratio among the 100 most populous U.S. metros for which Zillow and Apartment List have data. The ratio was only 1.3 in June 2019.
MORE:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/realestate/article/rent-vs-buying-bay-area-19654366.php
I had a friend who “inherited” a San Francisco duplex that overlooked the beach (not on it but it was like a 10 minute walk to feet-on-sand) as his grandmother was too far gone due to Alzheimer’s and he took over her estate. He had to sell it to afford her care in the city, something between $8k and $10k a month, and got about $1.6 million for it. About 2 years later, in 2021 the buyers sold the house in the same state it was in when he sold it for $3.2 million
The duplex hadn’t been updated since the mid 60s and we would stay in the vacant up-stairs property in college to save money, but didn’t have heat or anything or hot water. I guess the point of this post is everything is insane in San Francisco and also, I feel for my friend who had to sell it due to immediate necessity but missed out on nearly $2 million because it has only gotten crazier.
h/t jackofallcards