Average SF home rent has jumped nearly 15 percent in the past year — to $3,129 last month.

 Read more at- http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/04/22/rents-soar-in-san-francisco-up-37-percent-nationwide

See how much income you'd need to afford a home in most California cities

California median home prices have risen by $120,000 in the last three years, once again putting them out of reach of most households in the state.   The median sales price for homes in California - the middle-priced home in a ranked list - was $393,000 in January 2015, according to real estate tracking firm Zillow.com.   A household would need to make about $78,000 a year to reasonably afford a home at that price, assuming a 20 percent down payment. Almost two thirds of the state's households make less than $78,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  The household income needed to afford a median-priced home ranges from $27,000 in the farming town of Tulare to $442,000 in the Silicon Valley town of Palo Alto.   This graphic shows the amount of income a household would need to buy the median-priced home in each California city with more than 30,000 residents.

Go here to read more and see the graph:  

http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article13255952.html

http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article13255952.html
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article13255952.html#storylink=cpy

S.F., Oakland and San Jose named worst cities in the U.S. for renters

No newsflash here: San Francisco, after recently beating out Manhattan for both price and scarcity of offerings, has been crowned the worst city in the country for renters. But according to Forbes, the second worst city is not Manhattan. It’s Oakland. And the third worst: San Jose.

Studying the jump in rents from the last quarter of 2014 to now, as well as the vacancy rate, median household income, % of income paid for housing, as well as comparing the cost of renting to that of covering the average mortgage, Forbes listed the best and worst rental markets.

And apparently, the whole Bay Area kind of sucks: KQED writes “Over the past year, vacancy rates for all three cities are under 4% and rental costs have surged 12.8% in SF, 10.5% in Oakland, and 11.3% in San Jose. Will the bubble ever burst? Or are we all destined to be priced out, singing a bitter elegy for our former hometowns on our way out?”

To read more, go to:  http://blog.sfgate.com/ontheblock/2015/04/21/sf-oakland-and-san-jose-named-3-worst-cities-in-the-usa-for-renters/