San Mateo has always been known to have particularly high rental rates, and recent reports continue to support this conclusion.
Zillow rates the media rent across the city at a incredibly high $3850. In comparison, the median rental costs of two-bedroom units in Seattle is $1700 in Seattle, $1400 in Austin, and $1000 in Dallas. The monthly cost of a one-bedroom unit in San Mateo is on average $1000 more than in San Francisco, $700 more than Redwood City, and $500 more than Pleasanton. The median rental cost of a two-bedroom unit in San Mateo is $3,140 more than the national median. Moreover, rent costs have jumped 150% from last year until now.
The rise in rental costs has been attributed to this region being the "nation's most undersupplied housing market when compared to available jobs", according to ApartmentList analysts.
But what solutions are there? Local officials are being urged to approve more building. An ongoing construction project in Bay Meadows, San Mateo has added in many new housing and apartment units over the recent few years.
Links:
San Mateo Rental Cost Rising
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you believe that increasing the pace at which we build housing is the solution to rising rental cost problems?
2. As students of Aragon High School, I believe the great majority of us live in San Mateo. Do these statistical reports make you realize and appreciate how we're living in one of the nation's most expensive housing areas?
6 comments:
Since the increasing rental costs are attributed to the limited availability of housing compared with the massive job market here in the Bay Area, there seems to be two ways to handle the situation: limit the number of jobs--which I doubt anyone would support--leaving an increase in housing as the only option. I actually live in Foster City, but this issue has affected us equally. It is reassuring to know that housing prices will probably continue to increase, but apartments seem to be popping up all over the city as the elementary schools and middle schools are starting to overcrowd.
Increasing the rate to which housing is made in San Mateo is indeed an ideal way to decrease rental rates. However, realistically, there are certainly drawbacks that are prevalent throughout the city and its surrounding area that will only increase in intensity. With the rise of city-wide infrastructure projects, there are many construction sites that accompany them. This has led many drivers to take detours, which has resulted in severe increase in traffic. So, although it will solve the housing cost crisis, it will only continue a trend of overcrowding, which is neither healthy for the city nor its residents.
More than ever the supply for housing is far less than the demand. I agree with Angelique's claim that there are drawbacks from increasing housing. Simply increasing the supply is not a viable as overcrowding will become an issue. In addition, there are no guarantees that the demand for housing the future will continue to rise. Although building new housing may be a temporary solution, in the long run it may be dangerous if the demand begins to decrease. If this upward trend continues it may foreshadow an event similar to the housing bubble crash in 2008. I think that due to the fact that rent is reaching such astounding rates the inflation will eventually begin to gradually dissipate. As Chris said If the supply of housing were to match the demand , San Mateo will be overcrowded.
To be fair, the cost for living is rather expensive in the Bay Area because it's one of the most popular places to live in the US. The job opportunities seem to be a bit higher paying than the rest of the state, and other states. In general, California seems to have a stable climate, one that won't actively try to burn or freeze people randomly (compared to the rest of the states). That said, the costs of renting houses/apartments here have been going up steadily at a ridiculous rate. For where I live, the rent would increase by hundreds at a time, to where it'd be cheaper to move to a different unit in the same place with more resources. I think most of the reason why rent continues to go up is because there's always someone willing to pay for it, whether that be circumstances or the hunger for opportunities. And as long as there is gain, I don't envision it decreasing anytime in the near future. Even if the amount of housing is increased, the landlord will likely fall into the same greed pattern, so I believe that will have little to no effect on rental cost problems.
I don't think building more houses/apartments is a solution for the high rent rates because there's no point in creating more homes if the rent is going to be higher than older apartments. People with jobs that pay minimum wage won't be benefiting from more houses, the only people benefiting from more houses are people who want to move to the bay area with more high paying jobs. The issue of creating more houses will be a higher population leading to an even more crowded town.
I also don't think increasing the amount of apartment construction is a good idea. The rent of the new buildings will likely be higher than the ones already being sold, like Marlene mentioned, and it will be difficult for tenants to pay off their rent. Furthermore, there is the environment to worry about. The San Mateo area is already scarce with wildlife, and using more land with trees and bushes that serve as habitats to many animal species is harmful to the ecosystem. We should not be tearing down habitats for the animals in order to build expensive habitats for ourselves.
And while I do agree that wage is higher here than most places, I still think that the median household income is still absurdly high. It's not uncommon for people to struggle with paying their rent, and compared to the net household income, rent accounts for nearly half of average income. Many people living in San Mateo still need to worry about paying for food, gas, heat, electricity, and countless of other commodities.
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