alt Hacker NewsCan confirm via my own experiences. Had a job in a SV firm, and paid just barely enough to try and get on the housing ladder. Four years and a 40-60% price increase later, and I got laid off without managing to successfully buy a home.
Since the layoffs, I’ve taken a sizable paycut (~$75k TC) to make ends meet with whatever I could find, but kept a pulse on the market in case things turned around. Locally, rents have gone down by ~$100-$500 a month (depending on when you renew) with one to two months free rent, while home prices have finally stopped rising. Homes are staying on markets longer, and bidding wars have dried up. I get about one to three price cut messages a day from Redfin, though nothing in my area or price range post salary cut.
Unfortunately, I don’t expect this trend to continue. My landlord just introduced a new RealPage-alike to keep rents high, local developers have put a hold on new housing construction as resources get consumed for AI datacenters, and the same old red tape blocks meaningful progress in addressing availability gaps. The only real bright spot is that renters are pushing for statewide rent caps and controls with better progress than ever before, so there might be some relief in sight next election.
It’s bad out there, ya’ll.
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You say rents are going down... but you want rent control? That's one way to ensure rents will never, ever go down. Every landlord will charge the statutory maximum.
I'm not advocating for gutting renter's rights, but anecdotally having lived in 6 states, and adjusting for general costs of living it was easier to rent, and rents were cheaper in states that were less renter friendly than states that were very renter friendly. As a renter in the central time zone, first months rent, a month's rent security deposit and a credit check and i was handed the keys vs. renting in NYC you'd think i was buying the home with level of financial scrutiny.
I suppose this is just a long winded way of saying that there appears to be a ton of friction and cost by renter friendly polices that are ultimately passed on to renters rather than owners.
As an aside I'd also say that renter friendly policies were also highly correlated with higher regulations around zoning/building so this may account for a meaningful portion of the above.
> My landlord just introduced a new RealPage-alike to keep rents high
You should get in touch with your state AG, and point to the precedent for this being considered illegal.
Rent control is not a great solution long term since it reduces the incentive to build more housing which is the only real fix. It ends up making the problem worse. I could see in times of economic downturns, a temporary rent control that automatically expires to help people figure out their situation short term (moving is expensive).