San Diego is the second worst market for renters in the country. That’s the word from Forbes’ 2017 ranking of 46 metropolitan areas, where only Miami is worse.
Analysts factored in San Diego’s monthly apartment rent ($1,748), vacancy rate (3.1 percent), annual rent increase (4.8 percent) and the portion of income spent on rent (30 percent).
In fact, six regions in California — San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside-San Bernardino, Oakland and Sacramento — ranked among the 10 worst.
“This is happening in California and is a major part of the division between the haves and the have-nots,” commented Lloyd Rochambeau, of San Marcos, in a recent letter to the editor protesting rising rents. “Of course, rent control could solve the problem and very well may be the only solution short of a revolution.”
Other cities had higher average rents and ate up a larger share of household income (third-ranked Manhattan’s $3,497 rent consumes 54 percent of household income), but San Diego was weak in all four categories used by Forbes.
Plus, the analysis methodology changed slightly this year from last when San Diego was ranked a more respectable seventh worst. Using that method, however, San Diego still would have ranked third worst this year, explained a Forbes analyst.
But the news isn’t all bad. John Chang, of Marcus and Millichap, which generated the raw data for Forbes, explains that people want to live in San Diego and are finding jobs, but the housing supply simply isn’t keeping up. “As a result, rents are rising faster than in other markets,” Chang said.
On the flip side, his firm recently ranked San Diego as the ninth best apartment investment market.