As rents and home values in San Francisco continue to explode, residents and policy makers are trying to make sense of what this means for the city. Is San Francisco an anomaly within the region or a prophecy of things to come? How is the regional labor market impacting housing costs? Will all the new housing slated to open in the next year be successful in meeting demand — and will it help to drive down prices?
To explore some of these questions, SPUR will be co-hosting two forums on the housing market with the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition and the San Francisco AIA. The first of these forums, “2014: What’s Next for Housing in SF?,” will focus specifically on the new housing that will become available in San Francisco in the next year and what impact the addition of these units might have on the city’s housing market. San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim, Trulia Chief Economist Jed Kolko, San Francisco Business Times reporter J.K. Dineen and Alan Mark of the Mark Company will join us on October 1.
The second conversation will take a larger perspective on the Bay Area housing economy as a whole and how San Francisco fits within this context. “Understanding the Bay Area Housing Market,” on October 15, will bring together UC Berkeley professor Enrico Moretti, John Haverman of Haverman Economic Consulting and Tim Cornwell of the Concord Group to look at why the Bay Area is the most expensive market in the country and what policy solutions might help address the affordability challenge. Both events will take place at the SPUR Urban Center. We hope you will join us for these important discussions.