Invest In Apartment Buildings In Daly City, CA

Who Rents In Daly City

Daly City is a high-income commuter city on San Francisco's southern border, and roughly two in five households rent. The city has 101,964 residents and 12,838 renter households, a 39.8% renter share against 44.1% for California (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024). The median household income is $123,547, and the median gross rent is $2,551 a month, well above the $2,036 state median. Even at that income level, 57.7% of renters spend 30% or more of income on housing.

Daly City's location does most of the work. The Mission Street corridor runs straight into San Francisco, and the Pacific Plaza mixed-use project sits next to Daly City BART with SamTrans and San Francisco Muni service nearby, so many residents reach jobs in the city and down the Peninsula without long drives. The city says about half its labor force works locally. Health care leads that local base. Seton Medical Center, a hospital founded in 1893 that AHMC Healthcare bought out of bankruptcy in 2020, had about 1,100 jobs in 2021 when AHMC began a $60 million seismic upgrade, making it the city's largest employer. Kaiser Permanente runs a 130,000-square-foot medical office building at 395 Hickey Boulevard near Interstate 280. Retail is the other pillar: Serramonte Center (860,000 square feet) and Westlake Shopping Center (620,000 square feet) anchor a retail base whose taxable sales the city ranks among the highest in San Mateo County.

For owners, that adds up to a renter base of commuters, health care workers and families who want San Francisco access at a lower cost than the city itself. The Census shows that base shrinking a little over five years, with population down 4.4%, renter households down 3.2% and employed residents down 4.8%.

Daly City's Supply Shortage

Daly City has barely built market-rate apartments in a generation. Bisnow reported in September 2025 that The Chester at Westlake, a 214-unit, seven-story building by Bozzuto on Kimco Realty's Westlake Shopping Center site, was the city's first market-rate apartment project in 15 years, with delivery slated for early 2027. The same report noted that Daly City must plan for 4,383 homes by 2031 under the state's housing allocation but had approved only 72 units by the end of 2024. The largest proposal, about 1,200 homes on the former Serramonte Del Rey school campus owned by the Jefferson Union High School District, received an initial City Council OK in January 2022. The district already opened 705 Serramonte, 122 apartments for teachers and staff, in 2022.

The Census figures need care here. Daly City has 9,258 homes in buildings with five or more units, 25.8% of its housing, and the survey shows that count up 17.0% in five years, which is hard to square with so little new construction. It also shows rental vacancy at 13.9%, far above what the regional market suggests: Bisnow cited the broader San Francisco and Peninsula submarket at 3% vacancy in the second quarter of 2025. ACS estimates carry a margin of error, and for a city of this size those two figures may reflect sampling noise more than real change. Median gross rent rose a more modest 14.9%, from $2,220 in the 2015–2019 survey to $2,551 now. HUD's fiscal 2027 fair market rent for a two-bedroom in the San Francisco metro area is $3,697.

For anyone weighing apartment syndications in Daly City, the main point is scarcity. The median home dates to 1965, so the rental stock is old, and new competition will arrive slowly. California tenant rules, seismic condition and deferred capital needs deserve close study on any older building.

Daly City Neighborhoods We Watch

Daly City's apartment stock clusters around its transit lines and big retail centers.

How Daly City Ranks For Apartment Investors

Among the 276 California cities we track, Daly City ranks 61st for median gross rent, 145th for renter share and 267th for five-year rent growth. Its rents fall in the middle of the pack. In raw numbers, Daly City has about 4,713 fewer residents, 424 fewer renter households and 1,345 more homes in buildings with 5 or more units than in the 2015–2019 survey. With fewer renter households than before, a building has to win tenants from competitors rather than from new demand.

How Daly City Compares With Nearby Markets

Daly City's median gross rent of $2,551 is above the California median of $2,036, and its renter share is 39.8% compared with 44.1% statewide.

Rent Versus Income In Daly City

The median rent in Daly City works out to $30,612 a year, about 24.8% of the median household income of $123,547. Under the common 30% guideline, a household needs about $102,000 a year to cover that rent comfortably. That's close to the California figure of 24.6%. Renters usually earn less than the all-household median, so the real burden for tenants is higher than this simple ratio shows.

Since the 2015–2019 survey, the median rent rose $331 a month ($3,972 a year), while median household income rose $29,020 a year. Income has outpaced rent, which means tenants have a bit more room in their budgets than they did five years ago. HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit, $3,697, is 44.9% above the median gross rent for all unit sizes. That gap matters for buildings that accept Housing Choice Vouchers, since local housing authorities base voucher payment standards on it.

Quick Facts: Daly City Rental Market

These are the core numbers for Daly City, CA, each from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

• Daly City, CA has 101,964 residents, down 4.4% from the 2015–2019 survey (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median household income in Daly City, CA is $123,547, up 30.7% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• Median gross rent in Daly City, CA is $2,551 a month, up 14.9% over five years (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 39.8% of households in Daly City, CA rent, about 12,838 renter households (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• 25.8% of homes in Daly City, CA are in buildings with 5 or more units (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The rental vacancy rate in Daly City, CA is 13.9%, and 57.7% of renters spend 30% or more of income on rent (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).
• The median home in Daly City, CA was built in 1965 (U.S. Census ACS 2020–2024).

What We Look For In A Daly City Apartment Building

We look at buildings with 5 or more units in Daly City, from small walk-ups to larger garden-style communities, in stabilized or value-add condition. We compare in-place rents with nearby buildings, inspect roofs, plumbing and HVAC, and ask whether better management or targeted renovation can close the gap with the market.

Property taxes are a big line item for any California apartment building. We estimate the tax bill as it will be after the purchase, because a sale can trigger a reassessment in many places. California caps annual rent increases on most apartments older than 15 years under the Tenant Protection Act (AB 1482), and cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland have stricter local rent control. Our rent-control guides explain how these rules work. Insurance quotes in California reflect wildfire risk, so we get a quote before we make an offer.

With vacancy on the high side, we budget for longer lease-ups and look for buildings whose occupancy is already above the market average.

Evaluating Apartment Syndications In Daly City

The data on this page turns into a short checklist for evaluating an apartment syndication in Daly City.

• What vacancy does the plan assume? Rental vacancy in Daly City is 13.9%. A plan that assumes much lower vacancy than the market should explain why.
• What rent growth is underwritten? Rents here rose 14.9% over five years. Ask whether the plan assumes that pace continues, and what happens to the deal if rents stay flat.
• How was the property tax bill estimated? A sale often triggers a reassessment, so the bill after purchase can be well above what the seller pays today.
• What capital work is budgeted? The median home in Daly City was built in 1965, so roofs, plumbing and electrical systems deserve their own line items.
• How will the building compete with new supply? Homes in 5+ unit buildings in Daly City rose 17% over five years, so newer properties are part of the competition.
• How and when does capital come back? Ask what the plan is for a refinance or sale, and what happens if that takes longer than expected.

How Passive Investing In A Daly City Apartment Syndication Works

Two groups make an apartment syndication work. The sponsor, or general partner, handles the deal: finding the building, financing it and running the business plan. The limited partners are passive investors who contribute capital and share in the property's results under the offering's terms.

Syndications are long-term and illiquid, and capital usually stays committed for several years. Results are never certain. Most offerings are limited to accredited investors, and the rules depend on whether a deal uses Rule 506(b) or Rule 506(c). See investing with Skyline Capital for how we work with limited partners.

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