— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Despite not existing on a zoomed-out Google Map, Oakland is a vibrant city just east of San Francisco.
With all of San Francisco's borderline callous bragging about being a “red hot real estate market” and an “economic recovery cinderella story” or whatever, it turns out Oakland is where the Bay Area's fiscally solvent trendsetters are flocking. According to math conveniently calculated by Movoto, there were only 151 homes for sale in Oakland by the end of March, versus 797 a year ago—an 81% drop. And when you compare Oakland to SF, Oaklands prices are increasing at a greater clip and has even less availability.
What's that mean? Either corporate landlords are betting that Oakland fill their pockets, or Oakland Is Already Over. Regardless, if you want to avoid rising rents and home prices in the Bay Area, you're just going to have to move to Reno.
[via SF Business Times]
Comments (5)
Do “Hipsters” raise the value of real estate? It’s happening everywhere they flock. LOL.
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a
blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?
I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100% sure. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Kudos
It’s the only walkable large city in the bay that’s remotely affordable, which I’m roughly defining as “can somebody making the median income afford a 10% down payment on a median priced home within 6 years if they save 10% of every paycheck for that purpose?”
Obviously it isn’t a city without problems, but owning a house in a walkable city in the bay area is a major goal for many people, and as a region we haven’t been successful at increasing the supply. Unless you’re very well-off, Oakland’s pretty much the only game in town if that’s what you’re after.
If you want to know what’s happening in the housing market in Oakland, read this.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_22930687/bay-areas-average-home…
In a nutshell, the average home buyer who has 10-20% cash for a down payment is getting outbid by investors who can pay $400k in cash. On top of this, limited supply of housing means first time home buyers are having to out bid each other, even 100k over asking price. If you think you’ll be competitive with an FHA loan and 3.5% down, think again. Oakland’s not affordable anymore. It’s a playground for the wealthy.
Oakland is a playground for the wealthy?!!
Never thought I’d hear that.