Paradise Lost: 34 Percent Of SF Bay Area Residents Consider Leaving

Heavy mortgage debts that come with astronomical housing prices, daily traffic gridlock, homelessness, long waiting lines.

Welcome to the sunshine of another typical California day.

But apparently, for 34 percent of San Francisco Bay Area residents, it's time to pull the shades down, close up the house and move on.

According to the Bay Area Council, one-third of our neighbors are "likely to bolt the region in the next few years" to pursue better financial opportunities elsewhere.

First Tuesday Journal, a statewide source of real estate news, reports that when asked which local issue is the most important to them, Bay Area residents chose:

• cost of living (64 percent)
• housing (48 percent)
• traffic (39 percent).

The Bay Area Council also announced generational trends. In the same February-March 2016 tabulation of 1,000 residents, First Tuesday Journal reports the results indicated:

• Millennials’ and Gen X’s greatest concern is the high cost of Bay Area living
• Baby Boomers’ greatest concern is housing
• Residents 65 and older are most concerned about traffic.

But who are those frustrated residents, and are they really going to leave?

Digging into the numbers, First Tuesday Journal found those most likely to leave were relatively new Bay Area residents — folks who had lived here less than five years — and suggests "it can be inferred those intending to leave are those who never got a foothold in the overwrought housing and rental market in the first place, and likely are not Bay Area natives."

In the same poll, 54 percent of San Francisco Bay Area residents say they aren't going anywhere.

First Tuesday suggests homeowners and renters who have been in their Bay Area residences for several years are extremely reluctant to start over again and reenter the ultra-competitive housing market.

You can see see the summarized Bay Area Council announcement, as well as a link to the poll, here.

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Image via David Ohmer/Flickr