Here is an old Cato study that shows San Francisco and San Jose both having very bad rent control. I don’t know how bad it is now. But rent control probably hurt the Bay area market for a long time. But the big issue making prices high in the region now is probably Silicon Valley prosperity. Better that then Baltimore economic depression!
http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa274.pdf
Don’t know where you lived but San Jose ‘rent control’ merely limits rate increases (I believe that is the same in SF). There are many ways around it and many exemptions.
“Under the Apartment Rent Ordinance, annual rent increases are set at a maximum of 8% over the past 12 months or no greater than 21% if the increase was more than 24 months prior to the current increase. Also, rent may not be increased more than once in a 12 month period”
A 21% increase in rent costs over a 24 month period hardly seems draconian to the owners