Yet another report confirms what we already know about the rental housing market in San Diego. Rents rose 18% in 2021. This is according to the latest monthly national rent survey issued by website Apartment List.
Some important take-aways of the survey:
- Though San Diego rents rose a lot over the past year, they actually decreased 0.2% in December, suggesting a stabilizing trend.
- As bad as the San Diego increase was for renters on the hunt, it was not as bad here as in other U.S. cities. We had the 37th biggest increase among the nation’s 100 largest cities.
- Median rents in San Diego have now reached $1,847 for a 1-bedroom apartment, $2,449 for a two-bedroom.
“The new year has brought some much-needed relief to the rental market,” said spokesman Rob Warner for Apartment List. “Across the nation, rent prices fell 0.2% last month, representing the country’s first measurable price decline since 2020.”
“This of course comes after a period of tremendous rent growth. So, prices remain high, but have turned a corner,” added Warner.
Overall, rents fell late in the year in 61 of the 100 cities surveyed. Riverside enjoyed the nation’s steepest rent decline this month at -3%. Prices also fell in large and expensive cities, such as San Francisco at -1.6% and Chicago at-1%.
New York City and Tampa lead the nation in rent increases. Rents went up more than 32% in 2021 in the Big Apple, after a 20% drop in 2020 as residents fled to the suburbs.
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One factor apparently not considered in the Apartment List survey is competition for places to live. The demand for apartments, as well as homes, has increased very quickly since the COVID-19 Pandemic stuck almost two years ago, as most everyone knows.
This is especially true here where incoming residents want to be close to the beaches and other outdoor activities.
For example, the Zip Code 92101 in downtown San Diego is among the nation’s top 10 hottest postal zones where people are most interested in buying, according to a recent survey by Opendoor. The publicly traded company bills itself as a leading digital platform for residential real estate.
In this survey, San Diego ranked No. 9 on the list, with Clarksville, TN, being number one. Clarksville, located 50 miles from Nashville, has been one of the hot real estate markets during the pandemic.
Interestingly, close-by Temecula Zip Code 92592 ranked right ahead of San Diego at No. 8 on the list.
Opendoor picked the Zip Codes after analyzing data from the local multiple listing Services where Opendoor brokerages operate. They were ranked by the number of homes that went into contract within 90 days of listing in 2021.
The other top Zip Codes on the list were found in Texas, Georgia and Florida, all literal climate hot spots.
“Americans are relocating for a number of reasons—and enjoying comfortable weather is one of the perks,” according to a company news release on the list.
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The Southern California Rental Housing Association installed its 2022 officers and board members, re-electing Lucinda Lilley to a second one-year term as president of the board.
The association is the region’s leading trade association serving the rental housing industry.
Additional officers elected include President-Elect Abigail Rex; Vice President Todd Henderson; Secretary Shannon Kelly; Treasurer Aiesha Blevins; Legislative Chair Allison Pfister and Immediate Past President Kendra Bork.
New and returning board members include Jay Lopeman, Scott Ledesma, Buck Buchanan, Tom Tamar, Matt Ruane, Melissa Wickerd, Jennifer Ford, John LaRaia, Angela Zdroik, Natasha Howell and Mark Feinberg.
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Oceanside’s Women Entrepreneur Incubator program, which is helping to train military spouses sand veterans to develop their part-time or full-time businesses, launches Jan. 20.
The Zoom incubator sessions will focus on three areas: social media management company, virtual assistant company and business/personal coaching.
This is the second group to go through the program, which is sponsored by the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, the National Veterans Chamber of Commerce and Score mentors, a national volunteer small business consulting organization.
“Our aim is that the women entrepreneurs will learn how to be pandemic-proof, recession-proof, and portable by investing in themselves,” said Victoria Carlborg, the chamber’s workforce development coordinator.
Women who are interested in participating in the next cohort may contact Carlborg at [email protected].
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The Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord were the five most popular new and used vehicles sold in San Diego in2021, according to a recent survey conducted by online auto website iSeeCars.com.
The study looked at 17.4 million vehicle sales in 2021 to determine the most popular cars in various metro markets. This was a period when cars where in limited supply because of a shortage of critical semiconductors needed for new vehicle assembly.
The Civic took nearly 4% of used car sales and 5% of new car sales. This percentage was almost twice that of any of the other four cars on the list.
Nationwide, the Ford F 150 pickup truck was the top selling used vehicle with 3.6% of the market in 2021. It was also the best-selling new vehicle with 3% of total sales last year.
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The EvoNexus tech incubator in partnership with Qualcomm and Verizon are looking for startups for its incubator program.
The program is seeking entrepreneurs involved in 5G, AI, IoT and the cyber security ecosystem, and it will offer meetings with Qualcomm and Verizon executives, introductions to venture capitalists, 360-degree executive mentorship and long-term residency and customized programming.
Click here for details.
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San Diego-based very early-stage startup HyperKelp, which is developing a system that can detect overhead hypersonic threats, says it is collaborating with defense contractor Northrop Grumman to monitor the effects of climate change through Project Glacier Watch, a campaign to deploy temperature and depth sensors in the Arctic.
HyperKelp builds hosted payload buoys that expand data access to 96% of the ocean’s surface.
According to a news release, Project Glacier Watch is part of Northrop Grumman’s Tech for Conservation initiative.
The company raised $120,000 in a pre-seed round from a TechStars in June.
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Finally, fast-growing locally based workplace productivity startup ClickUp will be filming its first ever commercial for the Super Bowl LVI 2022 in early January in Los Angeles.
In less than 18 months ClickUp has raised $535 million in funding, and is spending a ton of that money on advertising to increase name recognition.
The Super Bowl is scheduled for Feb. 13 at the new NFL stadium in Inglewood, home of the Los Angeles Rams and the former San Diego Chargers.
This will be the first Super Bowl in the Los Angeles area in 29 years
Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to [email protected].
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