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San Francisco

Rincon Hill and the Transbay towers, Mission Bay, and the low buildings of the city’s hills: where new condominiums rise, how California’s public report shapes every sale, and what the city’s transfer tax adds at the top of the market.

Market note Later Updated 4-minute read
The towers of San Francisco in silhouette across the bay, under an orange sky.
San Francisco across the bay, with the Bay Bridge beyond.Photograph: Stephen Leonardi, Pexels
SAN FRANCISCO BAY5001,0001,500 ft
Downtown San Francisco from the bay, at the same scale as the Los Angeles, Miami and New York views. Heights are drawn to scale, and the spacing between towers is adjusted so each one reads. In bronze, an illustrative tower under construction, not a real project.

The market in brief

San Francisco comes later for us, after Los Angeles and Dallas, as our second market in California. Its new condominium towers stand mostly south of Market Street, on Rincon Hill, around the Transbay Transit Center and in Mission Bay, while the older hills keep their low buildings and long views. Its buyers include founders and executives from the region’s technology companies, and families from the Peninsula and Marin who want a city home close to the water.

Area
Rincon Hill, the Transbay district, Mission Bay, the Embarcadero and the hills of the north side
Status
Later, after Los Angeles and Dallas
Before any sale
A public report from the California Department of Real Estate
Reservations
Allowed under a preliminary report, held in escrow and refundable in full
Top-end transfer tax
5.5 percent of the whole price from $10 million and 6 percent from $25 million

We will add market figures here when we open San Francisco, drawn from the same kinds of sources as our other market pages. Our Los Angeles page covers the rules that apply across California.

Where new buildings rise

Rincon Hill and the Transbay district

The towers south of Market Street around the Transbay Transit Center and its rooftop park, where most of the city’s tallest residential buildings stand.

Mission Bay

A newer neighborhood on former rail yards beside the bay, with mid-rise residences near the ballpark, the medical campus and the waterfront.

The Embarcadero

The waterfront boulevard from the Ferry Building south, where a few residential buildings look over the bay and the Bay Bridge.

Nob Hill, Russian Hill and Pacific Heights

The established hills of the north side, where new buildings are rare and small, and each one is measured against the views of its neighbors.

How a purchase works here

A new condominium in California is sold under a public report from the Department of Real Estate. With a preliminary report, a developer may advertise and take reservations, but a reservation binds no one: either side can cancel, and the whole deposit, held in escrow, comes back. A purchase contract needs a conditional or final report, and the buyer receives a copy before signing. Under a conditional report, the sale cannot close until the final report is issued.

At closing, San Francisco, which is both a city and a county, charges one transfer tax that rises with the price and applies to the whole of it, from 0.5 percent on the smallest sales to 5.5 percent from $10 million and 6 percent from $25 million, under rates voters raised in 2020. The city has debated lowering the top rates in 2026, so check the current schedule before pricing. The contract says who pays; in California these taxes usually fall to the seller.

California’s Right to Repair Act sets standards for new homes, condominiums included. The builder must give at least a one-year written warranty on fit and finish, and most claims under the act can be brought up to ten years after completion.

What a developer works with here

  • Demand before contracts. A preliminary report allows advertising and refundable reservations, so a launch can measure demand line by line before anything is signed.
  • A clock on conditional reports. Under section 11018.12 of the Business and Professions Code, as the Department of Real Estate summarizes it (PDF, opens in a new tab), a conditional report runs six months, renewable once, or up to 30 months for an attached condominium of 25 or more units. No sale under it closes before the final report.
  • Price lines and the tax tiers. The transfer tax steps up sharply at $10 million and $25 million, and applies to the whole price, so set the top lines with the tiers in mind.
  • Affordable units. San Francisco requires most new residential projects to include, or pay toward, homes priced below market. Settle the approach before the unit mix is final.
  • Ground and earthquakes. Buyers here ask how a tower is founded and how it is designed for earthquakes. Show the engineering plainly in the sales materials.
  • Buyers from New York. Marketing a California building to New York residents brings New York’s filing rules with it, as our New York page explains.

Costs and rules at a glance

Transfer tax
One city and county tax, rising with the price to 5.5 percent from $10 million and 6 percent from $25 million
Property tax
About 1 percent of the purchase price plus local charges, with the assessed value rising no more than 2 percent a year
Homeowners’ exemption
$7,000 off the assessed value of a primary home
Warranty
At least one year on fit and finish; most claims under the Right to Repair Act up to ten years

A launch, step by step

  1. Preliminary report. Advertising and refundable reservations begin, and prices and lines are tested before contracts.
  2. Conditional or final report. Purchase contracts are signed, each buyer receiving the report first.
  3. Construction. Under a conditional report, the final report must be issued before any sale closes. Weekly reporting shows whether pace meets the lender’s threshold.
  4. Closings. Title passes after the final report, with transfer taxes paid as the contract sets.

What we will do here

When we open San Francisco, we will work as we do in our other markets: advice before launch on pricing, unit mix, plans and amenities, the buyer profile and the launch strategy, then a sales report every Monday against the plan. If you are planning a building on Rincon Hill, in Mission Bay or on the waterfront, we are glad to talk it through now. 

Sources

  1. California Department of Real Estate, preliminary public report notice (PDF, opens in a new tab) and conditional public report application (PDF, opens in a new tab).
  2. City and County of San Francisco, Proposition I, changes to the real property transfer tax (PDF, opens in a new tab).
  3. California’s Right to Repair Act, summarized by FindLaw (opens in a new tab).

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. California’s rules and San Francisco’s tax rates change, and every project is different. Review any purchase or project with a California real estate attorney.

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