San Francisco Multifamily Market Insight · September 2026
Leasing conditions and apartment building sales for the twelve months ending September 22, 2026
The September 2026 edition of the AMSI Novo Market Insight report covers San Francisco leasing conditions and apartment building sales over the past twelve months. It draws on three sources. CoStar provides the citywide multifamily statistics, Zumper provides listed rents, and the San Francisco Association of REALTORS MLS provides 694 closed income-property sales inside the city through September 22, 2026.
Vacancy fell and rent growth reached a ten-year high
According to CoStar, citywide multifamily vacancy stood at 3.2% in September, down from 3.9% a year earlier. Occupancy was at its highest level in ten years. Rents rose 13.3% year over year, the highest annual rate in a decade. CoStar counts 918 units delivered in the past year and 1,740 under construction, which together represent less than 1% of the city’s multifamily stock.
Rent growth was positive in every city submarket CoStar tracks. South of Market led at 25.7%, followed by Mission Bay and China Basin at 23.3%, Downtown at 14.4%, Sunset and Lakeshore at 13.6%, and Richmond and Western Addition at 13.3%. The slowest submarket, Marina and Pacific Heights, still grew 4.5%.
Listed rents across all rental types
Zumper’s September data put the median listed rent across all rental types, including apartments, flats, condos, and houses, at $4,495, with 642 active listings citywide.
| Bedrooms | Median listed rent | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $2,700 | +12% |
| One bedroom | $4,275 | +19% |
| Two bedroom | $6,200 | +22% |
| Three bedroom | $7,500 | +22% |
| Four bedroom | $7,995 | +18% |
Price per unit falls as building size rises
CoStar reports $2.1 billion of multifamily property traded inside the city over the past twelve months, with the price paid per unit up 7.1%.
The MLS sales data breaks that market down by building size.
| Building size | Sales | Median per unit | Median per sq ft | GRM | Median cap rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 to 4 units | 491 | $762,500 | $638 | 15.1x | 4.8% |
| 5 to 15 units | 168 | $382,800 | $450 | 11.9x | 5.7% |
| 16 or more units | 31 | $234,000 | $339 | 9.8x | 6.4% |
Rent multiple and cap rate are based on income reported on the listing, which covered about half of small-building sales and nearly all sales of larger buildings.
Small buildings drew the most competition
The median two to four unit building sold for $1.95 million, and 59% of those sales closed over the asking price. By comparison, 36% of five to fifteen unit sales closed over asking, at a median of $2.60 million, and 19% of sixteen-plus unit sales did, at a median of $6.00 million. Small-building values also rose during the year. The median per-unit price increased from $730,000 in the first half of the period to $800,000 in the second, while cap rates compressed by about half a point.
Location moves the number as much as size
Within the two to four unit band, buildings in the Marina, Cow Hollow, and Pacific Heights sold for a median $1.30 million per unit and $964 per square foot at a 4.0% cap rate, across 48 sales. Buildings in the Mission, Bernal Heights, Potrero, and SoMa sold for a median $579,000 per unit and $545 per square foot at a 5.9% cap rate, across 65 sales. The Richmond and Lake District recorded 113 small-building sales, the most of any MLS district.
In the five to fifteen unit band, the median per-unit price was $542,000 in the Marina and Pacific Heights, $392,000 in Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and North Beach, and $306,000 in the Mission, where the median cap rate was 7.9%. Sales of sixteen-plus unit buildings were concentrated in Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and North Beach, which accounted for 19 of the 31 sales at a median $199,000 per unit and a 7.2% cap rate.
What the medians do not capture
Every figure above is a market-wide median. An individual building sells above or below it for reasons the data cannot capture, including its rent roll, its tenancies, its condition, and its lot. Owners who want to see where a specific building lands can request a complimentary preliminary broker opinion of value and market analysis through the San Francisco building valuations page.
AMSI has served San Francisco property owners since 1970 across leasing, property management, and sales. Novo Real Estate is AMSI’s investment sales division.
Sources: CoStar Group, City of San Francisco multifamily analytics and San Francisco Multi-Family Market Report (city submarkets), September 2026, licensed to Novo Real Estate. Sales data based on information from the San Francisco Association of REALTORS MLS as of September 22, 2026; 694 closed Residential Income sales, city of San Francisco, October 1, 2025 to September 22, 2026; not guaranteed. Neighborhoods in the sales sections are SFAR MLS districts. Zumper Rent Research, San Francisco, September 2026, medians of active listings, all rental types. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.
