Good afternoon Bay Area! Tony Leong, back again. I'm tracking all the housing news you need to know this week. So let's get to it.
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Midterms and measures
We are just days away from November 8th, Election Day. And voters will be making big decisions on affordable housing in the Bay Area. There are a number of housing measures on the ballot. We know it can be confusing, so we tasked our own Jonathan Bloom with breaking down nearly all the housing measures in one video. Watch it here.
$650 Million. That’s how much Berkeley City leaders are asking voters to upgrade streets, build new housing, and improve parks and wildfire safety. Today in the Bay’s Laura Garcia talks to Berkeley’s mayor to find out where all that money is going.
There are so many other big races, including who will be California’s next governor, and we have you covered. Head to our Decision 2022 page for in-depth analysis on all the key races. And on election night, join us for our special Decision 2022 newscast. On your Roku device, go to our live streaming channel 133 to watch our coverage starting at 8 p.m. You can also find it on your Samsung TV Plus app, we’re at channel 1035.
No laughing matter
Very funny Seth 🙄... All jokes aside, bad news if you’re looking to buy a starter home in San Francisco. The average starter home in the city costs the same as a starter home in the 10 most affordable cities…combined. That not funny report comes from real estate software firm Point2. It goes on to say people need to make $251,000 a year to afford a starter home in the city. Audrey Asistio shares the findings, along with what you need to make in other Bay Area cities to afford a starter home.
With that in mind, you can be sure that San Francisco is one of the top five metro areas where buyers need to make the largest down payments. But did you know that San Jose tops that list? Data from Lending Tree says that San Jose had the biggest down payments from homebuyers, a whopping $142,006. San Francisco is next with down payments at $131,631. Four California cities are in the top five. Guess what the other cities are here. Did you guess right?
Something to smile about
Renters can laugh about this: rent did get cheaper in September. The San Francisco-Oakland area saw rents go down 2.8% from August to September. It was No. 5 in a list from Rent.com that ranked cities on where rents dropped the most. See the city with the biggest drop.
California is putting in work. A new report says the Golden State is booming. California is set to become the fourth largest economy in the county, passing Germany. The only places ahead on the list are the U.S., China, and Japan. But it's not all good news. Ian Cull found out why that's bad for the world.
By the numbers
Our NBC Bay Area business and tech reporter Scott Budman is always keeping a close eye on the latest housing stats. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ScottBudman for more.
Investigative series: Overpriced, Overwhelmed, Over It!
There’s a frustrating reason that California can’t build enough affordable housing. The Investigative Unit identifies hundreds of empty lots and construction spaces that could provide affordable units. Instead, they sit unused. In episode 3 of our digital-exclusive investigative series, "Overpriced, Overwhelmed, Over It!", we speak to the developers behind these projects and California’s state treasurer to uncover what’s behind the construction hold up.
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