An increased number of tenants in San Francisco are choosing to not renew their leases and are moving out of town, according to Andrew Chamings at the SFGate. In his recent article, he cites the vacancy rate in the city jumped to 6.2% in May, up from 3.9% three months ago, from The Wall Street Journal. He predicts the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the financial crisis are taking a toll and creating a renter’s market.
In recent years San Francisco has had the most expensive rental rates in the country, asking more per square foot than New York, Paris and London, but the city has also maintained a more troubling statistic — the third highest per capita homelessness rate (0.8%) of all large US cities. Many believe this widening disparity in wealth and quality of life in the city was unsustainable and change was overdue.
Some tech companies, including Yelp and Lyft, have all announced lay-offs in the city over the last few months as others make plans to let employees work from home, permanently. Recent signals from tech giants that the future of work may be remote has also led to many San Francisco residents and tech employees seeing an opportunity to move from the city. A recent poll showed that two out of three tech workers would consider leaving if they were able to work from home.
The change has also seen a surge in high-end real estate interest in the wealthy suburbs outside of the city, with a Marin real estate agent reporting a "mad rush" to leave San Francisco.
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