SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Living in an
apartment building with a gym may seem like an amenity reserved for
renters in luxury buildings, but the cost difference between a gym
membership and paying additional rent in a building with a fitness
center is negligible, according to a new HotPads® analysis.
In San Francisco, the typical
apartment building with a fitness center adds about $114 to a renter's monthly payment. With the
average gym membership in the city costing about $82 a month[i],
San Francisco renters pay just
$32 more a month to rent in a
building with a gym included – less than one percent of the city's
median rent.
Saving money and getting more exercise are two of the most
common New Year's resolutions[ii], and
without a meaningful difference in cost between apartment building
fitness centers and gym memberships, renters are better able to
examine their options based solely on their personal
preferences.
"Since there's a relatively small cost difference between
in-building gyms and gym memberships in San Francisco, renters should consider picking
an apartment based on their lifestyle and fitness goals," said
Douglas Pope, co-founder and general
manager of HotPads. "Renters in San
Francisco may pay a bit more to rent in a building with
exercise equipment, but they might be more motivated to keep up
their New Year's resolution if the gym is just a short elevator
ride away. On the other hand, if a renter places more importance on
the expansive offerings available at membership-only gyms, he or
she should prioritize those features over convenience."
When it comes to in-building gym cost and availability, each
neighborhood is different. Nearly 24 percent of apartment listings
in Downtown San Francisco
advertise an in-building gym, more than any other neighborhood
analyzed.
Renters in Downtown San
Francisco also get on-site fitness centers for a bargain;
the rent premium for buildings with gyms in the neighborhood is
only $27 a month. Meanwhile, renters
in the Tenderloin or South of Market (SoMa) can expect to pay
$225 or more per month to rent in
buildings with a gym – over $140 more
than the average gym membership in the city.
Renter demand for on-site fitness centers is high. According to
a recent study by the National Multifamily Housing Council, 82
percent of renters nationwide are interested in renting in
buildings with an on-site fitness
center.[iii] However, only 15 percent of
apartments in San Francisco
advertise a gym in the listing.
HotPads is a Zillow Group owned apartment and home search
platform for renters in urban areas across the United States. For more information on
San Francisco's rental market,
visit HotPads.com.
Gym Premiums in San
Francisco by Neighborhood
Neighborhood
|
Median
Apartment Rent[iv]
|
Gym
Premium[v]
|
Cost Difference
Compared to City's
Average Gym
Membership[vi]
|
Percentage of
Units Advertising
a Gym
|
City of San
Francisco
|
$3,650
|
$114
|
$32
|
14.9%
|
Tenderloin
|
$2,195
|
$260
|
$178
|
18.3%
|
South of Market
(SoMa)
|
$3,600
|
$228
|
$146
|
16.4%
|
South
Beach
|
$4,375
|
$194
|
$112
|
21.5%
|
North
Waterfront
|
$3,500
|
$167
|
$85
|
15.0%
|
Lower Pacific
Heights
|
$3,381
|
$120
|
$38
|
22.0%
|
Downtown
|
$2,595
|
$27
|
-$55
|
23.6%
|
HotPads
HotPads is an efficient rental search platform for urban
areas across the United States,
with features designed for competitive markets such as map-based
search, real-time notifications and detailed information on
landlords and property managers that help renters spend less time
searching and more time feeling excited about their next
home.
Launched in 2005, HotPads is based in San Francisco and is owned and operated by
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG).
HotPads is a registered trademark of Zillow, Inc.
[i]
https://www.statisticbrain.com/gym-membership-statistics/
[ii] Based on figures from YouGov Plc.
Total sample size was 1170 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between
8th - 11th December 2017. The survey
was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are
representative of all US adults (aged 18+).
[iii]
http://www.nmhc.org/residents/
[iv] Median Apartment Rent represents the
median rent for rental listings in buildings with five or more
units.
[v] To calculate the gym premium for a city
or neighborhood, HotPads compared apartments with in-building
fitness centers to similar apartments without in-building fitness
centers, controlling for variables that can impact what an
apartment costs to rent (such as the number of bedrooms and
bathrooms, square footage, location, etc.).
[vi] HotPads compared a city or
neighborhood's gym premium to the city's average gym membership
cost as reported by the Statistic Brain Research Institute to find
the cost difference. A negative cost difference represents the
savings of renting in a building with an on-site fitness center
compared to the city's average gym membership cost.
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SOURCE Hotpads, Inc.