Bay Area Trends
In the nine counties that make up the Bay Area, housing costs are significantly higher than in other areas of the country, even when factoring in a higher median income, according to Cynthia Kroll, the senior regional economist for the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics, a research center on the U.C. Berkeley Campus.
She took a look at some of the trends in the data and offered her opinion of what was going on.
Trend: The percentage of renters has increased from 2005 – 2009 in almost every Bay Area county.
Kroll: In the nine counties that make up the Bay Area, housing costs are significantly higher than in other areas of the country, even when factoring in a higher median income.
Trend: Asians and whites tend to be homeowners more often than renters.
Kroll: (The data on Asians) fits with some research done on immigrant cultures moving into the U.S. … Home ownership has a significance in this demographic in general (i.e., immigrants place a high value on home ownership). Whites, not so much a cultural thing as it is that they often have the ability to buy houses, and then it is more a matter of “why not?”
Trend: African Americans are usually the highest percentage group of renters in any county.
Kroll: This has more to do with income probably than anything else. The buy-in point in the Bay Area is very high.
Trend: Napa County has the highest percentage of homeowners of any Bay Area county.
Kroll: The outlying Bay Area counties are going to have a higher number of homeowners, probably because the housing costs are generally lower. (These communities) are usually more homeowner-esque.
Trends: Others not in the data here that are worth noting:
Kroll: Usually younger people are renters. They don’t want that sense of responsibility, being tied to one place, needing to maintain a certain level of income over decades; it can be a lot of pressure. But once you start a family, families tend to want single-family homes and those are usually owned, not rented.
