Many Bay Area residents want to purchase their own house. In the nine-county Bay Area, homeownership is unfortunately a pipe dream. According to Vital Signs, the current typical house price in the Bay Area is above $996,000, which is out of reach for those with low and intermediate incomes. In the years after the economic slump, the Silicon Valley tech boom was a runaway success, resulting in an unprecedented flood of highly qualified computer engineers, programmers, developers, and entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, this led to excessive housing demand and a significant price increase.
The housing market in the Bay Area has failed miserably to keep up with increased demand, resulting in exorbitantly priced houses and rents. Despite the efforts of local mayors and the California governor, a huge supply shortfall continues to plague the state. Other real estate developers have shifted their attention to middle-income earners by offering a bewildering selection of reasonably-priced alternatives, whilst the majority of developers target the luxury market. Due to major developments in the Bay Area real estate market, such as a decline in house prices, the tide may be beginning to shift in a positive direction.
Even while prices are increasing at a slower pace, they are nonetheless grossly inflated. According to Curbed.com, credible real estate journals, publications, and news websites, the cost of housing in California is unsustainable, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to ten years, the typical San Francisco apartment cost around $230,000. Today, it costs around $700,000 to construct the identical flat from the ground up. Numerous Californians just lack the means to cover their living expenses. There are almost 1.7 million rent-burdened Californians, which is much higher than the national average. It is the responsibility of local counties and private property developers to solve the issue, since the California government looks unable to battle this disease.
Attempts to Address the Housing Crisis in the Bay Area
In 2018, a census in San Francisco indicated that around 38,651 residences remained unoccupied, despite the city’s severe homelessness crisis. Multiple studies suggest that the number of unoccupied houses in the Bay Area currently surpasses the number of homeless people, but so many issues continue. The U.S. Census Bureau defines unoccupied dwellings as vacant units for sale, vacant units leased or sold, or vacant units for rent. The intricacies of why there are so many unoccupied properties and such a significant homeless issue sometimes bleed over into peripheral areas, such as houses now on the market, homes awaiting new tenants, homes undergoing repair, etc. Unaffected by the vacancy rate, prices remain high.
When asked about the housing situation in California and the Bay Area in particular, many locals think that home affordability is the issue, not a housing scarcity. The homes exist; nevertheless, they are just unaffordable for purchase or rental. Danny Haber of oWOW, an innovative Oakland, California-based real estate development business, appears. As the chief executive officer and co-founder of this vertically integrated firm, Haber offers immense knowledge to this rent-driven sector. His specialization is providing luxury residences at prices below the market average. The real estate development firm is entrusted with updating the lodgings by maximizing the present square footage by using magic walls (flexible wall system) and pre-built designs.
Multiple neighborhoods, such as 674 23rd Street, 1919 Market Street, 960 Howard Street, and 316 12th Street, attest to this company’s projects’ meteoric rise in popularity. In order to save time and money, the firm has created a series of repeating designs that may be completely adapted to individual tastes. These MacroUnits are able to convert normal 1-bedroom, 2-bathroom flats into 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom, and 4-bedroom homes without exceeding the allotted square footage. As a result of vertical integration, expenditures are minimized and the savings are passed on to customers, hence keeping prices low. oWOW is an example of how private industry can economically carve out a niche market in a pricey housing market, with many successful launches to date.