San Francisco Rents Recover From Pandemic Bottom

The rental market in San Francisco has almost entirely recovered from its pandemic losses.

Median rental prices for two-bedroom apartments in San Francisco have surpassed levels before the pandemic’s outbreak, which led to a price dropoff in 2020 and stagnant recovery in the following four years, according to data from Zumper cited by the San Francisco Examiner.

In July, two-bedrooms in the city rose to a monthly median listing price of $4,780, the highest such level since August 2019. Median rents for one-bedrooms, meanwhile, have almost completely recovered at $3,400, just under the pre-pandemic level of $3,500.

An influx of new tech workers, likely driven by the proliferation of artificial intelligence company offices in the city, played a key part in the recent increase, according to Zumper spokesperson Crystal Chen.

“With high-earning renters competing for limited inventory, especially near job centers, rent growth is accelerating and showing few signs of slowing in the near term,” Chen told the Examiner.

Increasing return-to-office rates could also play a role in more workers needing housing in San Francisco, according to the Examiner. Earlier this year, the city clawed its way out of last place in return-to-office rates across the country.

Higher-end apartments in the city’s most desirable neighborhoods have seen the greatest price increases.

“Mission Bay, [South of Market], Hayes Valley and Civic Center all saw rents grow in the double digits annually,” Chen said. “Demand in these pockets has risen so much because they are near where offices are typically located, close to the city’s downtown area.”

Rental rates in San Francisco bottomed out in 2020 in the months after nationwide Covid-related shutdowns. Between February 2020 and 2021, median rents for two-bedroom apartments tumbled 24 percent.

“2020 was an absolute disaster,” Inna Rubinchik, a San Francisco-based leasing agent with Compass who specializes in the luxury rental market, told the Examiner. “People had left, and there was so much vacancy.”

That, in turn, has made it easy for landlords to find tenants willing to pay whatever price necessary to get the keys to an apartment. “Those properties, you can ask for anything at this point,” Rubinchik said. “You could just pull the number out of the blue sky, and you will get it.”

— Chris Malone Méndez