SAN FRANCISCO—Tenants of San Francisco are leaving the Bay Area during to the coronavirus pandemic, making one of the most expensive cities in the country more affordable. With more companies adopting the work from home ethic, citizens of San Francisco are not as willing to pay sky-high rents just to work from their living room. Tenants are eager to ditch their high rent apartments and retreat to the suburbs, which are less crowded and more affordable.

Tech salesman Anthony Natoli says, “People are leaving and ditching their apartments, or leaving their roommates hanging, or trying best to find a sublease or just leaving San Francisco and moving back home.”

The monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is typically between $3,500 – $4,000. On average, someone should be making around $99,960 a year to live comfortably in San Francisco. Compared to 2019, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment has decreased by 9 percent. Additionally, home sales dropped by over 16 percent.

A president of a local real estate management company adds that “all of the normal things we see as driving demand for renting housing in San Francisco have pretty much dried up.”