The price of "cheap housing" in San Francisco is only 1/7, but you have to be the lucky 4%

The price of "cheap housing" in San Francisco is only 1/7, but you have to be the lucky 4%. At dusk in downtown Los Angeles. Reuters 4%, it was Xie Ying who was able to win a set of&#8...

At dusk in downtown Los Angeles. Reuters

4% is the probability that Xie Ying can win an "affordable housing".

As long as the income level is below the standards set by the San Francisco government, residents will participate in the housing lottery. Once they are lucky, they will have the opportunity to purchase affordable housing far below the market price.

Graduating from Berkeley, saving money to buy a house is like a dream

"I started working summer jobs to save money when I was 16 years old, and now I am working two jobs." Xie Ying, 22, is currently working as a marketer for a start-up company after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley this year.

The Chinese habit of saving money to buy a house is still evident in "ABC" who was born and raised in the United States. But to win the lottery and become a "4% lucky star", Xie Ying seems to have to rely on dreaming now; to save money to buy a house, reality tells Xie Ying that she might as well dream.

Generation after generation, housing prices have bullied this generation

In San Francisco, California's Bay Area, housing prices have soared at an unimaginable rate for more than 20 years. In this harbor city with a long history of Chinese immigrants, the real estate market had always been sluggish before the advent of the Internet age. The Chinese immigrants who have resettled have lived here generation after generation, purchased real estate, and spread throughout the Bay Area from San Francisco Chinatown to the Sunset District.

No one could have expected that with the explosion of high-tech, the rise of Silicon Valley and the influx of a large number of talents and funds, the San Francisco Bay Area has suddenly become more expensive and expensive. Those who want to find a place to settle here have an unbearable burden.

Affordable housing housing prices are nearly 7 times cheaper

According to San Francisco city policy, every new building must provide about 12% of affordable housing below market prices for low- and middle-income people to purchase. For those who qualify, the income limit is $97,000 for a single person, $110,000 for a family of two, and $124,000 for a family of three.

As for how much cheaper a house can be? According to online information, it is not unusual for a house in San Francisco to cost more than 2 million yuan, but the price of affordable housing is about 300,000 yuan, which is nearly seven times cheaper.

Residents who can obtain these 12% of cheap housing must have an income level below a certain standard. At the same time, there are relevant requirements for credit record, property certificate for down payment, etc., in order to get the chance to draw lots.

"The affordable housing project I am interested in is in Lower Pacific Heights in San Francisco. There are only nine affordable housing units in total. There are now 220 applicants queuing up to compete." Xie Ying said, "The chance of winning is 4%."

Stay away from San Francisco But Seattle is also expensive

"I have also considered leaving San Francisco and going to Seattle." Xie Ying said, "But Seattle is actually not cheap anymore."

In addition to housing prices, the way to buy a house is also different from what it used to be. In the past, you had to rely on real estate agents to inspect houses and obtain information. Nowadays, everyone can search for information online and queue up to draw lots to buy affordable housing. The only thing that remains unchanged is that Chinese people have always had a strong desire to own homes.

With more than 20 years of experience in the Bay Area housing market, Zheng Baijian, housing director of Meiya Auxiliary Neighborhood Society, a non-profit organization that has long provided consultation for Chinese people to buy homes, said that in 2017, there were more than 800,000 people in high-tech enterprises in the Bay Area, more than half of whom were high-income earners. Their arrival directly boosted housing prices in the Bay Area.

The new rich can afford it, and the entire housing market is being pushed up

"The new rich in technology have high salaries and buy houses very quickly." Zheng Baijian said that the supply of housing can never keep up with the demand, and in an era when the highest bidder gets it, there are always richer technology people who can afford it, so the entire housing market is pushed up.

In addition, the thinking of high-paid technology business people in buying houses is also changing. Zheng Baijian said that in the past, the so-called buying a house in the United States meant buying a single-family house (House), but now people are gradually becoming more and more interested in buying condominiums (Condos). "Because tech people are busy with work and don't want to take care of the flowers and plants. Instead, they pay property management fees and let the property management take care of everything."

One bedroom costs $3,000 Rental rents are also the highest in the United States

Zheng Baijian said that in 1980, a house in the Sunset District of San Francisco, where there were many Chinese residents, cost about US$160,000. By around 1996, it was only about US$200,000; but now the asking price of the same house can easily exceed one million US dollars, an increase of almost five times. According to online information, rent prices in San Francisco are among the highest in the United States. It is not unusual for a one-bedroom unit to rent for $3,000.

Zheng Baijian said, "House prices in the Bay Area do not always rise but never fall, but they always rise very quickly and greatly, and falling are uncommon."