San Francisco, CA Multifamily Market Report Q3 2026

Vacancy Sits 549 bps Below the 2021 Peak; Rents Rise 13.2%

Demand

San Francisco absorbed 32 units in Q3 2026, against 964 in the same quarter last year. Vacancy is 3.6%, 65 bps tighter than Q3 2025. Pacifica/Miramar/Half Moon Bay is the tightest submarket at 1.8% vacancy; SoMa leads rent growth at +27.1%. Trailing-12-month absorption of 1,601 units is down from 4,287 a year earlier.

Supply

San Francisco recorded 0 units of completions in Q3 and 367 over the trailing twelve months (-72% versus the prior TTM period). Units under construction equal 2.2% of inventory, concentrated in South San Francisco/San Bruno/Airport at 19.5% of its stock. Annual completions peaked at 3,843 units in 2016. The 4,163-unit pipeline equals about ten and a half quarters of absorption at the trailing pace.

Investment Market

San Francisco recorded $6.8B in sales over the trailing twelve months, +100% against the prior TTM period; Q3 accounted for $3.90B. The high-water mark in this series is $6.0B in 2026. Q3 volume is 4.3 times the prior four-quarter average and likely reflects entity-level activity from the AvalonBay and Equity Residential merger, which also sets the 2026 high. Read volume as directional. CoStar records $863M for Q3; on that count trailing volume would be $3.8B.

San Francisco cap rates average 4.79%. Pricing sits at $447k per unit, higher for 2 consecutive years.