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SF Housing Prices Are So Bad People Are Paying $2,400 For 220 Sq Ft Boiler Rooms And Basements

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San Francisco housing prices are so bad that people are now paying $2,400 for 220 feet boiler rooms and basements, according to a report published Sunday.

Due to pricey housing options, people are now opting to pay $2,400 for an apartment carved out of a basement or boiler room, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. These small spaces are referred to as accessory dwelling units or ADUs. In the first nine months of the year, property owners applied to create 593 units, more than double the 242 ADUs applied for in 2016. So far, 531 buildings were approved.

“Pretty much every multiunit building with crappy old storage rooms is taking a look at this. You’ve got all these property owners that realize they are sitting on dead equity,” John Pollard of the SF Garage Co., a contractor whose clients are either building or waiting for permits for over 300 AUDs, told the SF Chronicle.

At one residency at 735 Taylor St. on lower Nob Hill, Veritas Investments, a landlord is adding seven new units that were previously dining halls and a common kitchen. They are between 220 and 381 square feet and will rent between $2,400 and $2,800 per month. The ADUs cost about $300,000 to $400,00 a unit to construct. While expensive, it is still cheaper than construction on a full unit in San Francisco which is usually $600,000, said Veritas Investment President Yat-Pang Au told the SF Chronicle.

“We are very happy to see the large apartment buildings are taking advantage of this,” added Kimia Haddadan, policy and legislative planner with the San Francisco Planning Department.

Au also said that he is planning on adding 200-400 more ADU’s in 100 buildings over the next five years.

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