Average Asking Rent in S.F. Trending Up, Inventory Down

Having ticked up for the first time in eight months last month, the weighted average asking rent for an apartment in San Francisco has since ticked up nearly 4 percent to $3,460 a month.

That being said, the average asking rent in San Francisco still 2 percent lower than at the same time last year and 22 percent below its 2015-era peak of nearly $4,500 a month, with the average asking rent for a one-bedroom in San Francisco still holding at a little under $3,000 per month, which is 2 percent lower than at the same time last year and over 20 percent below peak.

At the same time, the number of apartments listed for rent in San Francisco (i.e., inventory) has just dropped below pre-pandemic levels, at which point the average asking rent was 16 percent higher, with a lower cost of capital and more people in the local labor force and employed, and listed inventory levels are down nearly 10 percent, year-over-year, facts that aren’t “bearish” or “pessimistic” in nature but key to understanding and acting on the actual market trends, none of which should catch any plugged-in readers, other than the most obstinate, by surprise.

Keep in mind that our analyses of the rental market in San Francisco are based on over 200,000 data points going back two decades that we maintain, normalize and index on a monthly basis (versus relying on a few years of data or “recollections”). We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.