1. San Francisco is small enough that there is in how much housing stock is created, with the same development groups at times opposing growth and at times advocating for growth.
2. Since building codes and zoning laws are often manipulated to adjust supply, there is predictably a lag between need and updated codes. We are in the middle of a housing creation wave. There is currently a large volume of to-be-constructed units that have been approved by the planning commission and will be entering the market in the next year [1].
3. One of the most overlooked sources of demand pressure is the recent and rapid rise of west coast properties as good investment vehicle for Asian investors [2].
4. Re: rent control - it is intentional that the community believes it is more valuable to keep rental housing stock fluid and accessible, at the expense of investment appreciation. Or, at least the community used to believe - given the changing demographics of San Francisco, I would expect these rules to change in the next decade or two. A reasonable comp is changes in how rental stock and rent control is treated in Berkeley over the past two decades.
2. Since building codes and zoning laws are often manipulated to adjust supply, there is predictably a lag between need and updated codes. We are in the middle of a housing creation wave. There is currently a large volume of to-be-constructed units that have been approved by the planning commission and will be entering the market in the next year [1].
3. One of the most overlooked sources of demand pressure is the recent and rapid rise of west coast properties as good investment vehicle for Asian investors [2].
4. Re: rent control - it is intentional that the community believes it is more valuable to keep rental housing stock fluid and accessible, at the expense of investment appreciation. Or, at least the community used to believe - given the changing demographics of San Francisco, I would expect these rules to change in the next decade or two. A reasonable comp is changes in how rental stock and rent control is treated in Berkeley over the past two decades.
[1] http://www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=1691 [2] http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22313326/bay-area-rea...