San Francisco Apartment Rents Falling Rapidly

Near-term fluctuations in apartment rents have little impact on long-term housing values. But they do offer a useful window into the health of the local economy. The view from that window doesn't look good right now. Take a look at the chart, below, which comes from SFRentStats.

The data comes from Craigslist, and covers the City of San Francisco.

Rents have fallen by about 20% since the spring of 2008. That doesn't mean that the sky is falling. Even after the decline, rents are no lower than they were two years ago, when the economy was generally thought to be on solid footing. As long as rents are falling, however, it will be difficult to argue that the San Francisco economy has turned the corner.