Signed a year lease back in September on a single family 2 bedroom house (it’s a very small house, but yes, it’s a house, not a condo) for $1,900/mo in NE Pacific Beach. At the time there was virtually nothing on the market similar and we were VERY lucky to get it. For fun I check Craig’s List to see what is out there. Just today in the $1,800 – $2,200 range in Pacific Beach, there were over 20 comparable properties posted in the first 8 days of June with a large portion of them being single family homes.
One home I saw I know very well and it is for rent at a lower price than when I went to see it last year. It was put up in May and obviously didn’t rent as it’s back up again just yesterday.
My observation has always been that homes vs rentals is ultimately a zero sum game. There will be ebbs and flows to how and when people shift between owned property and rented property, but ultimately there are four main drivers to the rental prices.
1. Total population
2. Overall home supply
3. Number of people under one roof
4. Average area income
With nothing else changing population wise, people going back and forth between rentals and owned properties ultimately does nothing. Unless there are people who have bought up properties and are happy to just keep them empty for some reason to depress the overall supply.
With respect to that, I only see people leaving SD right now. I have a friend at Sony in the marketing dept. She said that the New Jersey office closed and they offered everyone there a job in SD (some high paying marketing jobs). They all QUIT rather than move here!
