Like many other markets nationwide, San Francisco’s Bay Area has seen a rebound in leasing activity in recent months. This surge in demand has helped the region recover from its roll as one of the worst-performing areas nationwide during the pandemic downturn in 2020. Apartment occupancy reached 96.8% in Oakland, 96.6% in San Jose, and 95.7% in San Francisco in September. The annual occupancy increase in San Francisco was one of the strongest nationwide at 310 bps, tied with Miami as the most progress among the nation’s largest 50 apartment markets. San Jose also logged a notable increase at 250 bps. Oakland – which did not lose as much ground in 2020 as the other two Bay Area markets – logged an occupancy upturn of 130 bps.
Rent growth has returned to the Bay Area, after seeing devastating price cuts just one year ago. San Jose saw the biggest increase, of 8.3% in the past year. Oakland logged rent growth of 6.6%, while San Francisco operators pushed rents an average of 4.6%. While each of these increases were notably behind the national average, they are a welcome sight after price declines that got as deep as 21% in San Francisco at its worst moment in February 2021. Annual declines were as bad as 16% in San Jose and bottomed out at 7% in Oakland.
For more information on the apartment markets in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, including forecasts, watch the webcast Market Intelligence – Northern California/Pacific Northwest Region