San Francisco, Silicon Valley rents plunge amid downturn
This article seems to be based on only a few transactions, as not a lot of people are actually moving right now.<p>I manage a couple of properties in the Bay Area, so I keep a close eye on these things.  What I'm seeing is not a drop in rents, but an increase in $0 deposits and many weeks of free rent upon move in (sometimes 6+ weeks).<p>Landlords are very reluctant to lower rents, because with the statewide rent control that limits increases to 5% a year, we're incentivized to keep the rents high and give months of free rent, just so our base rate doesn't drop.