Apartment market moving on up
According to Novato's RealFacts, a database company that analyzes apartment rental numbers nationwide, "landlords who have been waiting to exhale can breathe a sigh of relief as renters slowly creep back into the market to fill up their empty units."
In the Bay Area, although the rents dropped by an average of 7.5 percent over the last year, compared with 3.7 percent nationwide, in the past four years the rents increased 17.3 percent, according to the report's figures as of September 30th.
In San Francisco, rents went down 5.6 percent over the last year but over the past four years rents - studios and one-bedrooms increased overall 26.4 percent.
San Francisco city has one of the highest rates to pay in the nation where average month rent costs $2,270. The city is also considered as the most expensive location in the Bay Area, together with Marin.
SF Gate-10/21/2009