Report Shows Continuing Weakness in City Economy

The San Francisco Controller's office just released the March edition of its Monthly Economic Barometer. It's a great place to find quick-and-dirty statistics about the City's economy. The latest batch of numbers are discouraging:

• The March unemployment rate was 9.0%. That's the highest rate since 1984. A year ago, the unemployment rate was 4.3%.
• The median home price fell 3.6% from February, and 19.3% from last year. (The current median price is $617,000. The record of $835,000 was achieved in May, 2007.)
• Apartment rents fell 1.6% from February, and 8.1% from last year.
• Commercial rents fell 13% from February, and 22% from last year.
• Hotel occupancies fell 5% from February, and 14% from last year.

Those are the highlights. The rest of the report is equally disheartening. You have to be dyed-in-the-wool optimist to find any good news in it.

If you want to read the next Monthly Economic Barometer when it comes out, you can find it here.