Bay Area Condo Prices Fall Except in Tony San Francisco Areas

San Francisco’s condominium market is seemingly on the up and up.

Typical condo values ticked up in only eight Bay Area ZIP codes between March 2024 and March 2025 — all of them within San Francisco — the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing data from Zillow. The gains were modest, topping out at nearly 4 percent in neighborhoods like Noe Valley and the Marina District, but they mark a reversal after roughly five years of declines.

The uptick is more a shift in momentum than a full recovery. Even in top-performing ZIP codes, values remain hundreds of thousands of dollars below their 2019 levels when adjusted for inflation. Across most of the Bay Area, condo prices are still falling or flat, weighed down by high homeowner association dues, insurance costs and tighter lending standards that have eroded the sector’s traditional appeal as an entry-level product. Condo values in some Oakland neighborhoods, for example, have fallen by as much as 18 percent over the past year.

San Francisco is the exception, thanks largely to a fresh influx of wealth tied to the artificial intelligence boom. High-earning tech workers are stepping into a market with constrained supply; that demand has led to what industry observers have called a mansion shortage in the single-family market. Investors are following suit, snapping up units to convert into rentals as rents climb, Mia Takami of eXp Realty told the Chronicle.

“Now that it’s been almost five, six years since the pandemic, [sellers] are excited for the upward movement,” Takami said. Some parents are even buying condos for children and offsetting costs by leasing spare rooms.

That demand is colliding with limited inventory. Many owners are holding off on listing as they are reluctant to sell at a loss after the pandemic-era downturn. The result is sharper competition for available units, particularly in higher-end segments and in neighborhoods where condos resemble single-family homes with direct street access.

The 94114 ZIP code, home to the Castro District and Noe Valley, saw the biggest bumps in condo value from last year with 3.9 percent year-over-year gains. The 94123 ZIP followed, with neighborhoods like the Marina District and Cow Hollow seeing a 3.8 percent increase in value from last year. — Chris Malone Méndez