SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Three may be company, but it's become an increasingly popular alternative to owning or renting a home in San Diego.
The San Diego metro area was ranked as having the seventh highest share of married couples living with roommates, according to a report from the real estate website Trulia. Only Salt Lake City, Utah; San Jose; Ventura County; San Francisco; Orange County; and Honolulu, Hawaii, ranked ahead of the San Diego area.
Trulia's analysis found that between 2009 and 2016, rising housing costs in the San Diego metropolitan area shot up 40.2 percent.
The rate of married couples taking on roommates jumped during this time frame, according to the report. From 2012 to 2016, married couples living with non-related roommates reached 1.5 percent in San Diego, which was an increase of 47.7 percent from 2005 to 2009.
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But that's not to spell total housing gloom around the U.S., or in San Diego for that matter.
Trulia found the average number of married couples with roommates in the U.S. peaked in 2012 at about the same time as the national housing crisis. But this could be because either homeowner's fell in financial distress or were more likely to bring on roommates hit by the housing crisis.
Married renters also had roommates at higher rates in 2012 and 2007, when housing affordability was in the gutter, Trulia says.
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The site cautions that correlation between the years may not be causation, but number showed, "markets exhibiting the highest rates of married couples with roommates tend to be concentrated on the West Coast, a known stronghold of high home prices."
Trulia reached its conclusions based off U.S. Census’ Current Population Survey and 5-Year American Community Survey, as well as its own real estate data. To see more of Trulia's study, click here.
