Bay Area Buyers Fueling Sacramento Rent Rise

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — With rents on the rise in San Francisco, more people are trading the Golden Gate and Bay bridges-- for the Tower Bridge.

Now, it's leading to a rent spike in Sacramento, but the Bay Area migration is also leading to big positive -- more potential jobs in Sacramento.

Malcom Kidd and his mom left Oakland to come to Sacramento five years ago, after their apartment became too expensive to afford.

"We moved into a three-bedroom house for $1,100 which was the same as a two bedroom in the Bay Area," Kidd said.

According to a Sacramento appraiser, Bay Area buyers are a force in driving the housing market.

Ryan Lundquist is a certified appraiser who says people from the Bay Area moving to Sacramento are bringing their Bay Area money with them, too.

"That certainly creates more competition for local buyers," Lundquist said.

That competition is driving up the rent in Sacramento, and the housing market.

According to real estate information company "Co Star Group", the average rent in Sacramento is now just under $1,200. Three years ago, rent had not yet reached the $1,000 mark.

But Lundquist says Sacramento's price tag is more than modest compared to Bay Area prices, which he says average between three to four-thousand dollars a month.

"The disparity is huge and so if that person from San Francisco comes to our market—they can easily chop up to $2,500 for a standard place here," Lundquist said.

He says it's not just Bay Area transplants contributing to the spike; Sacramento is doing its own hunting and recruiting outside businesses, in hopes of expanding the job market.

"They want good businesses here that are gonna create jobs for locals, and that's what we all want," Lundquist added.

A good-paying job and a lower cost of living is exactly what Kidd says he signed up for when he made the move to Sacramento.
Kidd says he now gets more bang for his buck and has no plans to return to the bay area.

"Out here I got a little bit more money to play with. In the Bay Area I wouldn't be living as lavishly as I am here."