[...] some relief for Bay Area renters San Francisco rents are still stunningly expensive, but they seem to have plateaued — thanks to new construction, seasonal factors and the “Twitter effect.” When Twitter announced in January it would be subleasing some space in its Mid-Market headquarters, the move caused other companies to rethink their expansion plans, said Samantha Chandler Duvall, a vice president with Chandler Properties, which manages about 5,000 rental units in San Francisco. “Commercial office brokers get worried, smaller tech companies get worried, venture capitalists get worried — whether it’s legitimate or not,” she said. The average asking rent in San Francisco for all property types — ranging from studios to three-bedroom places — hit $3,620 in the first quarter, according to Real Answers, a Novato research firm. The rental market is seasonal, and the winter quarters are typically the slowest. [...] that was down from a 13.4 percent increase the previous year, according to Real Answers, which surveys apartment buildings with 50 or more units every quarter. Finding a place in San Francisco “was not nearly as bad as I was expecting,” said Sydney Cohen, 22, who started apartment hunting with two friends in mid-February. The roomies are using the living and dining rooms as bedrooms and the smallest bedroom as a common area. “We are definitely seeing it taking longer to rent or turn over units,” said Bill Meyer, whose firm WM Properties manages apartment buildings, mostly in Pacific Heights and Nob Hill. In some cases, rather than cutting the rent, Meyer will convert a dining room into a bedroom by adding a closet and door. The same is happening, to a greater or lesser extent, in San Francisco’s suburbs, said Jeff Bosshard, president of multifamily operations for Woodmont Real Estate Services in Belmont. Landlords could face more pressure if a boom in condo construction makes it easier for people to buy than rent, he said. In the other parts of the Bay Area where his firm does business, “the pace of rent rate increase has slowed a bit, but they are still strong,” Bosshard said.
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