Rents are up 5% nationwide

Taken from a Trulia article:

Rents Continue To Climb, Rising Nationally 5.0 Percent Year-Over-Year

Asking rents rose over the past year in almost all large metro areas included in the Trulia Rent Monitor. In the largest metros, rents rose 6.2 percent in New York and 6.1 percent in Chicago, but only 0.6 percent in Los Angeles. Rents rose strongly in Miami (12.1 percent) and Denver (9.9 percent), which also experienced large asking price increases. Meanwhile, rental affordability declined in places where rents rose while prices fell, most notably in San Francisco (rents up 11.1 percent), Seattle (9.7 percent), San_Jose (9.4 percent) and Boston (9.2 percent).

On the ground I find that there is a complete penury of rentals in the area centered around Palo Alto, and that rents have gone up in the Silicon Valley by a lot more than 10% in some cases.  It is good to check with your Realtor on the latest values if you are thinking of renting out your property for a while.
I often advise to also check Craigslist's listings.

Francis Rolland

Silicon Valley Real Estate

Local market trends

Francis - on Trulia

Current Mortgage rates