Sell Your Commercial Property In San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Who rents in the Bay Area

The five counties on our Bay Area page, San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara, had 6,289,107 residents in the 2020–2024 American Community Survey. Of their 2,300,405 occupied homes, 1,036,266 were rented, a 45.0% share. That is more than a million renter households across the inner Bay Area.

The split varies widely by county. San Francisco is the only one where renters are the majority, at 61.8%. Alameda County follows at 45.6%, Santa Clara at 44.9% and San Mateo at 41.5%, while Contra Costa is mostly owner-occupied at 32.0%. The Census Bureau's San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro area, which covers San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Marin counties but not Santa Clara, comes in at 44.5% renters with a median household income of $136,027, per ACS metro figures.

Among the cities named on our page, ACS 2020–2024 data shows Oakland at 57.7% renters, San Jose at 44.2%, Hayward at 42.0% and Concord at 38.4%. Their medians differ too: gross rent is $1,979 in Oakland, $2,391 in Hayward, $2,274 in Concord and $2,669 in San Jose, where median household income is $146,427, compared with $101,600 in Oakland.

Universities add a steady flow of renters. UC Berkeley reported 33,070 undergraduates and 12,812 graduate students in fall 2024, nearly 46,000 students in all, in Berkeley, next to Oakland.

Rents and incomes

Incomes in the region are high, and they support its rents. Median household income is $164,281 in Santa Clara County, $158,855 in San Mateo, $140,970 in San Francisco, $129,367 in Alameda and $127,229 in Contra Costa. Median gross rent tracks that order loosely: $2,922 in San Mateo, $2,857 in Santa Clara, $2,476 in San Francisco, $2,375 in Contra Costa and $2,357 in Alameda.

Because incomes are high, the share of renters under strain is lower in the core counties, but it is still large. In San Francisco, 37.8% of renter households pay 30% or more of income on rent; in Contra Costa the figure is 53.4%, and in Alameda 48.2%, San Mateo 46.4% and Santa Clara 43.3%. The share paying half or more of income is 18.9% in San Francisco, 25.1% in Alameda and 26.8% in Contra Costa. Concord, at 56.8%, and Hayward, at 51.7%, show that the more moderately priced East Bay cities carry heavier burdens than the core.

HUD splits the region into several fair market rent areas. For FY2026, the two-bedroom FMR is $3,604 in the San Francisco HMFA, $2,912 in the Oakland-Fremont HMFA and $3,483 in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area. One-bedroom FMRs are $2,977, $2,385 and $2,982 respectively, and three-bedroom FMRs are $4,604, $3,724 and $4,602. These set the baseline for voucher payment standards in each area.

The apartment stock

Across the five counties, 740,356 of 2,467,095 housing units, or 30.0%, are in buildings with five or more units. San Francisco is in a category of its own: 204,083 units, 49.2% of its housing, are in 5+ unit buildings, and its median year built is 1946, with 61.3% of units built before 1960. Oakland's median year built is 1953, and 35.9% of its housing is in 5+ unit buildings.

Santa Clara County has the most apartment units in absolute terms, 199,884, but its stock is weighted toward large complexes: 97,781 of those units are in buildings of 50 or more. Alameda County has 183,207 units in 5+ unit buildings, with 41,369 in mid-size 20–49 unit buildings. Contra Costa has the fewest, 70,737, consistent with its lower renter share. Among the East Bay cities on our page, Hayward has 27.3% of its homes in 5+ unit buildings and Concord 26.0%, with medians built in 1972 and 1970.

New construction has been limited across the region. In the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro, only 7.3% of housing units were built in 2010 or later and 1.1% in 2020 or later, while 66.7% predate 1980. In Concord, just 2.3% of homes are from 2010 or later. Older buildings are also the ones local rent ordinances can reach, since Costa-Hawkins exempts units with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995.

Rent control across the region

Rent rules depend on the city, not the county. Oakland's Rent Adjustment Program sets an allowable annual increase for covered units of 2.3% as of August 1, 2026. Berkeley, San Francisco and San Jose also run their own rent programs; the Berkeley Rent Board publishes a guide to how the state Tenant Protection Act, in effect from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2030, fits alongside local rules.

Under the state Tenant Protection Act, covered units can rise no more than 5% plus regional CPI, or 10%, whichever is lower, in any 12 months, and tenants who have stayed 12 months are protected by just cause rules. Units with a certificate of occupancy issued within the previous 15 years are exempt, and the law runs to January 1, 2030. The Costa-Hawkins Act prevents cities from applying local rent control to units with a certificate of occupancy issued after February 1, 1995, so even in Oakland or San Francisco a newer building's rents follow state rules only.

For a seller, the practical point is that the same building would be underwritten differently in Oakland, Hayward or Concord. Check whether your city has its own ordinance, which units it covers, and what registration or fees apply before pricing. Our rent control and property tax guide summarizes state-level rules.

Property and transfer taxes

Proposition 13 applies in all five counties. The Board of Equalization describes a base rate of 1% of assessed value plus voter-approved bond levies, with annual increases in assessed value capped at 2% until a change in ownership or new construction. A sale resets the value to market; under Assessors' Handbook 401, so does acquiring more than 50% of an entity that owns real property. Where market values have risen faster than 2% a year, long-held buildings carry assessed values below market, and the buyer's reassessed tax bill will be much higher.

State law lets counties charge a documentary transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 of value, and cities may add up to half that county rate. Charter cities can set their own transfer taxes, so the cost of a sale in San Francisco, Oakland or Berkeley can differ from a sale in an unincorporated area; confirm the current rate with the city before pricing. Deposits are limited to one month's rent for most landlords under Civil Code 1950.5, must be returned with an itemized statement within 21 days, and now require move-out photos, records a buyer will expect to inherit at closing.

What this means if you own a building here

Bay Area sellers often hold older buildings bought long ago, with a low Prop 13 base and, in rent-controlled cities, long-tenured units well below market. Buyers value those buildings on in-place net operating income with taxes reset to the purchase price, so the spread between your tax bill and a buyer's is a major pricing factor. If you plan to reinvest, our 1031 exchange calculator can show the deferral math.

Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings across the Bay Area, including Oakland, San Jose, Hayward and Concord, rent-controlled or not. Our seller page explains how we evaluate a property and close.