San Francisco Looks to Reverse Downturn With New Housing

San Francisco, a city where space is at such a premium that a sleeping pod could even run you $700 a month, may be getting an infusion of residential real estate, The Wall Street Journal reported.

San Francisco has been criticized for its expensive cost of living, which is 76% higher than the national average. During the pandemic, the city was considered by some to be in a “doom loop,” meaning it was hit by one negative event after another, as major companies like Meta attempted to abandon offices. 

Some 65,000 residents left San Francisco between 2020 and 2022, the California Globe reported, as lures of cheaper rent and the ability to work from home allowed residents to look elsewhere. Now there are efforts being made to make real estate ventures easier and cheaper, the Journal said. 

Bayhill Ventures, a real estate investment and development firm, applied to build a 71-story apartment building in the city’s downtown, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. If the project comes to fruition, it would be the tallest apartment building in the city. 

The project would bring 672 more apartments into the city, with around 67 of them offered at below-market rates, the San Francisco Chronicle added. As of December, a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco averaged $2,945 a month, according to real estate site Zumper.

While around 10% of the apartments in the proposed development may charge below market rate, other units are set to be priced at more than $8 a square foot, meaning a 1,000-square-foot unit would run a tenant more than $8,000 a month, the Journal added. 

This is one of several initiatives that could add more than 1,250 apartments to San Francisco, the Journal said.