Analysis: With Bay Area Rents At Record Highs, How Do We Find Relief?
PALO ALTO (KCBS)— According to a new report, rent across the Bay Area has reached record highs. The region has averaged nearly double-digit rises annually for the last three years.
The study by Real-Facts shows rents averaged $2,043 dollars in the first quarter of this year. That's a 9.9 percent increase over the same period last year.
The continued rise is starting to worry some economists who fear it could start to affect economic growth in the region.
Stephen Levy, Director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, said the high rents could soon start to impact people's decision to take a job in the Bay Area.
"We need to be building a lot more housing. You do not see these kinds of housing increases in areas where building is not as difficult," he said.
Levy said these problems come with the territory of a hot economy and that if we want low housing prices and traffic improvements, we'd almost need to suffer another recession.
Many Bay Area companies already pay much higher wages than other regions of the country and according to Levy the salaries can only go so high.