The youthful members of Generation Z — those born between the mid 1990s and 2012 — will spend $145,000 on rent before turning 30 — 14% more than what the Millennial generation paid, according to a new study by apartment rental website RentCafe.
In San Diego, the so-called “Zoomers” will pay even more — a whopping $220,770.
According to the study, despite renting inflation, the cost is much less than home ownership for the generation, with the ownership costs climbing to $315,000 by the age of 30 — a figure that includes the mortgage, taxes, and fees, but not the down payment.
“Renting is a no-brainer here in San Diego because the owning costs are much higher,” said a spokeswoman for RentCafe. “San Diego has the nation’s fifth highest cost difference between owning and renting for Gen Ze’rs younger than 30. Here, the cost difference reaches $94,093.”
The cities in the U.S. where Generation Z faces the highest costs for renting and owning are all in California, including San Jose, San Francisco and San Diego, she added.
The most expensive place to rent is San Jose, where the cost for Gen Z’ers reaches $300,000 before turning 30 years old.
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San Diego County’s investment fund which takes in retirement monies from more than 200 public agencies, has reached $18 billion — a new record, County Treasurer-Tax Collector Dan McAllister said in a news release recently.
This record follows another notable milestone — the office collected more than $1 billion in property taxes in a single day on April 8.
“The record $18 billion investment pool, along with our ‘AAA’ rating, underscores the county’s commitment and financial acumen in managing the public’s money,” said McAllister.
Mandatory participants in the pool include the county government, plus 42 local school districts, five community college districts and all of the county’s water and fire districts.
Voluntary participants include the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, SANDAG, MTS and several other special government districts.
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Forbes magazine has named San Diego’s Axos Bank, a subsidiary of Axos Financial, to its 2024 list of America’s Best Banks.
In compiling the list, Forbes considered the 200 largest publicly traded banks and thrifts by assets and ranked the top 100.
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Three-decade-old San Diego-based planning and engineering firm Latitude 33 recently opened an office in downtown Los Angeles.
According to a news release, the firm’s high-profile work includes San Diego International Airport’s $3.4 billion Terminal 1 expansion and UC San Diego’s $2.5-billion-plus Hillcrest Medical Campus Redevelopment.
For more information, click here.
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San Diego home prices were up 9.5% year over year at the end of March, according to a report released by Orange County-based housing data provider First American Data & Analytics.
The company’s March 2024 Home Price Index tracks home price changes less than four weeks behind real-time at the national, state and metropolitan levels
San Diego’s increase trailed only Anaheim and Miami, both of which were 10.5%.
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San Diego’s Chosen Foods has launched a line of three different sauces made with avocado oil.
According to a news release, the sauces are made with natural flavors and have no seed oils or artificial ingredients.
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San Diego’s California American Water said it is making available $8.3 million in bill relief for customers who faced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The relief funds come from the State Water Resources Control Board, using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds..
This brings the total benefit for disadvantaged California American Water customers to $15.1 million.
“We understand the financial burdens many families faced during the pandemic,” said Kevin Tilden, who is president of the company. “These funds provide much-needed relief to our customers who fell behind on their water bills.”
California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, says it provides high-quality and reliable water and wastewater services to approximately 700,000 people.
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Six-year-old Del Mar-based emerging company TradeSun, which is pursuing the commercialization of artificial Intelligence involving global trade, has entered a “strategic alliance” with Wells Fargo Bank, according to a news release.
Wells Fargo will utilize TradeSun’s AI platform “to digitize, extract, validate, and classify unstructured data for use with compliance and document checking,” the release said.
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Here’s another item from Wells Fargo. The bank’s Community Lending and Investment group provided nearly $8 million in financing for the construction of La Sabila, an affordable housing development in Vista.
According to a news announcement, the bank provided a $30.5 million construction loan and $27.4 million equity investment.
The project features 85 residential units reserved for low-income seniors and will feature on-site management, vehicular parking, a community room with computer area and kitchen, laundry facilities, on-site resident services, courtyard/picnic area, and a conference room.
Timothy McCann, Terence Cordero, and Jessica Gonzalez of the Community Lending and Investment group arranged the financing.
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Miami-based personal finance website WalletHub has released its 2024 list of the top 20 small cities in the U.S. which are the best places to start a business.
Alas, no cities in San Diego County were on the list.
Cedar City and St. George, Utah, were No. 1 and No. 2 on the list respectively, followed by Fort Meyers, FL.
To see the report, click here.
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More than 900 industry professionals have registered to attend the annual rental housing convention and expo on April 25 at the Town & Country Hotel in Mission Valley sponsored by the San Diego-based Southern California Rental Housing Association.
The theme of this year’s gathering will be “Another Day in Paradise.”
The gathering will focus on maintenance and management for those involved in the rental housing sector, according to a news release.
Industry consultant Lisa Trosien, president of website the Apartmentexpert.com, will address working with “mean individuals” in your work life as the keynote speaker.
SCRHA public affairs director Molly Kirkland will hold a question-and-answer session on current legislative issues and how they affect the rental housing industry.
For more information about attending, click here.
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Finally, this bit of North County business and industry news. The San Diego North Economic Development Council has updated its quick fact sheets about key area industries, adding a new “Tourism and Hospitality” report for 2024.
Biotech and biomedical manufacturing, defense and transportation technology and manufacturing top the list of key industries.
According to a news release, North County is considered a “hotspot” for talent in most of the top industries, which means the area employs more workers than the national average for an area this size. Click here for more information.
Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to tom.york@gmail.com.