Bay Area housing prices are starting to drop, but renting an apartment in the region is getting tougher.
There appears to be three main factors making it difficult to nail down an apartment. First, a lot of people are heading back to the office and therefore back to the area. Also, lack of inventory and rising mortgage rates are making it hard to buy a house. Finally, there's a scarcity of apartments as construction has slowed over the last few months.
"People are moving back after being remote during the pandemic, it makes it hard for them to find housing in this part," Campbell resident Herse Nur said.
RentCafe says, on average, for every apartment that opens, 15 people apply in Silicon Valley, 14 people apply in the East Bay and eight apply in San Francisco.
"You're just trying to be the first one there, honestly," Jordan Alvarez said. "I had to take a day off to get my spot in Campbell."
Economists say you can blame it on a suddenly risky housing market and a desire from companies to bring employees back into the office.
"We're starting to move away from that very flexible, 100% remote working environment," said Caroline Chen, an accounting and finances professor at San Jose State University. "And we're looking for that face time again."
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