The 2022 Rental Perspective appears to be much of the same. After experiencing the last two years nothing should come as a surprise.
Leasing
We expect to continue seeing high leasing rates. Limited inventory and job change due to the pandemic encourage movement. In San Diego specifically, we have seen a big move from the city center to the suburbs. More space for the work from home lifestyle.
We also expect more job transfers from specific industries. Restaurants and hospitality are still trying to recover and with this recent wave of COVID cases it is unlikely that their employees continue to work in such volatile conditions. We also expect to see more movement from the expensive locales. The Bay area residents came down south swiftly in 2020 and 2021. What this did was increase demand and price. Well, as much as legally possible due to the state of emergency. We averaged 6+ groups of applications per property in 2021. With most properties only being posted for a day or two.
In 2022, leasing will continue to boom, but we need to be prepared for the challenging properties. The one bedrooms or studios will likely struggle to be as highly desired. Knowing how to market nearby parks or workspace environments will be the key.
Maintenance
We expect to see continued delays in goods and services. We also expect cost to continue to rise with inflation. Higher costs of production can decrease the aggregate supply (the amount of total production) in the economy. Residents will have to be patient. Owner will have to dig in their wallets a little deeper. This is going to continue to cause the strife between two traditional adversaries. Property managers will have to continue to walk the fine line of balancing these two expectations. Oh, ya and the suppliers who are struggling just the same finding employees and materials. Residents and owners can at least agree on one thing, they want more product for less money. I remember the day when suppliers were begging for work from us, now it is the opposite. And it is not fun. If you are a painter, cleaner, landscaper or handyman join our vendor pool here: www.netvendor.net/fbspm
Government Overreach
As we saw in 2020 and 2021, the government did all they could to “protect” residents and owners. Well, at least their version of protection. Two years later we still have a state of emergency where we can’t raise rent over 10%, yet the sales market can sell property at 100k over ask. Just cause and eviction limits are still in place. Many owners still fighting to get back their properties and the monies owed to them. California will continue to be a very pro tenant state, leaving property owners and housing providers with a lot to stomach.
Because of these three main issues, we hope 2022 will bring more homeowners to the realization that they cannot manage their own property. That it should be in the hands of professionals who invest daily in how to handle the property management challenges, current and future. The risk is to high, invest in your investment by hiring a professional management team.
