<story><title>San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-13/san-francisco-studio-apartment-rents-plunge-31-most-in-u-s</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mercutio2</author><text>I keep reading people make this claim.&lt;p&gt;I haven&amp;#x27;t found it to be even remotely true for the food my family is inclined to eat. Every time I&amp;#x27;ve gone to visit hip small college towns for the last 5 years, I&amp;#x27;ve eagerly sought out the talked-about eateries, and they were all... distinctly mediocre compared to NYC or Bay Area or LA food.&lt;p&gt;You still can&amp;#x27;t find anything but Americanized Asian food, even the California-cuisine upscale places are decidedly mediocre, and the food trucks are... fine.&lt;p&gt;Certainly, it&amp;#x27;s better than it was at the margin, but it really depends on what your baseline is.</text></item><item><author>tarsinge</author><text>&amp;gt; food or retail scene&lt;p&gt;In my experience this is becoming less and less true, smaller cities are really catching up, it&amp;#x27;s not 2010 anymore. My pet theory is that social networks like Instagram have done a good job spreading fashion and food experiences&amp;#x2F;expectations that were previously exclusives to big city centers.</text></item><item><author>zdragnar</author><text>As a counter anecdote, I know three people from the bay area who moved out during covidtide, but had already planned the move beforehand. (This is a very high percentage of people I know from the bay area, hence the anecdote).&lt;p&gt;All had the same rationale: taxes and housing were simply far too high when they could work remotely and live anywhere else. Sure, you don&amp;#x27;t get the same outdoors, food or retail scene, but plenty of places have those things too.&lt;p&gt;I imagine the move to working remotely has made that move possible for more people than before, but those I know aren&amp;#x27;t making temporary moves, they are buying houses.</text></item><item><author>burlesona</author><text>I would say the city being “closed” is the major driver. Among my group of ~40 coworkers, about 30 (including me) have left the city. As far as I know all but one were renting.&lt;p&gt;Everyone who left gave the following rationale:&lt;p&gt;- we can work remotely so move wherever or nomad now&lt;p&gt;- SF is not very fun during the pandemic&lt;p&gt;- WFH in my tiny apartment is much less enjoyable than when I was working in the office and didn’t spend much time in the apartment&lt;p&gt;- therefore I’m moving for a year or so until things fully reopen&lt;p&gt;Now I think the question is what does the eventual full reopening look like and how long does it take?&lt;p&gt;Many people will move back, because many office jobs will return, and many people love city life and the office work environment (including me).&lt;p&gt;But the longer things take, the more people get established elsewhere, and the more companies decide to make remote permanent and don’t reopen an office, the more I think this market reset in SF will be long-lasting.&lt;p&gt;As other posters have said it’s a welcome relief though. Prices are &lt;i&gt;still&lt;/i&gt; very high, and new construction remains far from sufficient to keep up with demand.&lt;p&gt;(edit: typo)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>opportune</author><text>I’m honestly surprised so many people put Bay Area&amp;#x2F;SF food on the same scale as NYC and LA. It only makes sense when you consider top-tier fine dining (like, Michelin star(s)) IMO. For middle-tier dining I think SF and the Bay Area don’t even come close to either of those cities. In fact I think those hip young college towns are much better, in my experience. It’s just that it’s going to be a different set of foods: more barbecue, Mexican, Central European, soul food, and less asian&amp;#x2F;what I would call “California health” foods.</text></comment>
<story><title>San Francisco Apartment Rents Crater Up to 31%, Most in U.S.</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-13/san-francisco-studio-apartment-rents-plunge-31-most-in-u-s</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mercutio2</author><text>I keep reading people make this claim.&lt;p&gt;I haven&amp;#x27;t found it to be even remotely true for the food my family is inclined to eat. Every time I&amp;#x27;ve gone to visit hip small college towns for the last 5 years, I&amp;#x27;ve eagerly sought out the talked-about eateries, and they were all... distinctly mediocre compared to NYC or Bay Area or LA food.&lt;p&gt;You still can&amp;#x27;t find anything but Americanized Asian food, even the California-cuisine upscale places are decidedly mediocre, and the food trucks are... fine.&lt;p&gt;Certainly, it&amp;#x27;s better than it was at the margin, but it really depends on what your baseline is.</text></item><item><author>tarsinge</author><text>&amp;gt; food or retail scene&lt;p&gt;In my experience this is becoming less and less true, smaller cities are really catching up, it&amp;#x27;s not 2010 anymore. My pet theory is that social networks like Instagram have done a good job spreading fashion and food experiences&amp;#x2F;expectations that were previously exclusives to big city centers.</text></item><item><author>zdragnar</author><text>As a counter anecdote, I know three people from the bay area who moved out during covidtide, but had already planned the move beforehand. (This is a very high percentage of people I know from the bay area, hence the anecdote).&lt;p&gt;All had the same rationale: taxes and housing were simply far too high when they could work remotely and live anywhere else. Sure, you don&amp;#x27;t get the same outdoors, food or retail scene, but plenty of places have those things too.&lt;p&gt;I imagine the move to working remotely has made that move possible for more people than before, but those I know aren&amp;#x27;t making temporary moves, they are buying houses.</text></item><item><author>burlesona</author><text>I would say the city being “closed” is the major driver. Among my group of ~40 coworkers, about 30 (including me) have left the city. As far as I know all but one were renting.&lt;p&gt;Everyone who left gave the following rationale:&lt;p&gt;- we can work remotely so move wherever or nomad now&lt;p&gt;- SF is not very fun during the pandemic&lt;p&gt;- WFH in my tiny apartment is much less enjoyable than when I was working in the office and didn’t spend much time in the apartment&lt;p&gt;- therefore I’m moving for a year or so until things fully reopen&lt;p&gt;Now I think the question is what does the eventual full reopening look like and how long does it take?&lt;p&gt;Many people will move back, because many office jobs will return, and many people love city life and the office work environment (including me).&lt;p&gt;But the longer things take, the more people get established elsewhere, and the more companies decide to make remote permanent and don’t reopen an office, the more I think this market reset in SF will be long-lasting.&lt;p&gt;As other posters have said it’s a welcome relief though. Prices are &lt;i&gt;still&lt;/i&gt; very high, and new construction remains far from sufficient to keep up with demand.&lt;p&gt;(edit: typo)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>irrational</author><text>My baseline is grilled cheddar cheese on plain white bread with Campbell&amp;#x27;s Tomato Soup is the greatest food ever invented. I once went to a work lunch at one of the city&amp;#x27;s most raved about restaurants. I ordered the grilled cheese and tomato soup. That was when I realized that I really am not a food connoisseur. How can something so simple as grilled cheese and tomato soup be so thoroughly ruined, just in an effort to make it fancy?</text></comment>