How Many SF Apartments for Rent Are Rent Controlled?

Answer first: About 44% of San Francisco apartments for rent are in buildings that look rent controlled. Of 7,175 listings first listed from April 4 to September 30, 2026, 3,174 (44.2%) were in buildings with 2 or more units built before 1979. Only the Rent Board can confirm a unit.

Published October 13, 2026.

The rest of the split: 534 listings (7.4%) were single-family homes or condos built before 1979, which are usually outside the city's rent increase limits. 2,489 (34.7%) were in buildings built in 1979 or later. We could not place the other 978 listings: 436 matched a parcel with no year built on record, and 542 matched no parcel.

Listings come from RentReboot's San Francisco data: active listings first listed in the 180 days before October 1, 2026, read on October 13, 2026. Building age and type come from the San Francisco Assessor's 2025 secured property tax roll.

A building's age is a signal, not a legal answer. Rent control in San Francisco depends on the date of a unit's first certificate of occupancy, the type of home and other rules. Only the San Francisco Rent Board can confirm a unit. Our guide Is My San Francisco Apartment Rent Controlled? explains the rules.

How many SF listings are in pre-1979 apartment buildings, by size

By size, the share of listings in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units was:

• Studios: 956 of 1,724 (55.5%).
• 1 bedroom: 1,219 of 2,797 (43.6%).
• 2 bedrooms: 704 of 2,014 (35.0%).
• 3 bedrooms: 217 of 474 (45.8%). Another 157 3-bedroom listings (33.1%) were pre-1979 single-family homes or condos.

The 7,175 total also includes 166 listings with 4 to 6 bedrooms, which are not in the size rows.

Newer buildings had more listings each. The 2,489 listings in buildings from 1979 or later came from 455 buildings. The 3,174 listings in older buildings with 2 or more units came from 1,698 buildings. So a large new building can post many units at once, while an older building usually posts one or two.

When San Francisco's listed apartment buildings were built

Of the 6,197 listings matched to a parcel with a year built, the largest groups were buildings from the 1900s (1,059 listings) and the 2010s (1,101 listings). The Assessor gives a year, not a date, so the 9 listings in buildings recorded as built in 1979 are counted with the newer buildings. Some of those may be covered, depending on the exact date.

Are rent-controlled apartments in SF cheaper to rent?

Not at the start of a lease. In our data, median asks were lower in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units than in newer buildings, for every size. But a landlord can set the first rent for a new tenant, and the two groups differ in location and building type.

Read this table with care:

• It is not a rent control discount. A new tenancy starts at whatever rent the landlord asks. Rent control then limits the yearly increases while you stay. For a covered unit, the most a landlord can raise the rent from March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 is 1.6%, plus any banked increases.
• The groups are not alike. 1,644 of the 2,489 listings in newer buildings (66.1%) were in South of Market, the Financial District or Potrero Hill. The two groups differ in location and building type, so the gap mixes those differences with building age.
• These are asks, not leases. A listing's price is what the landlord asked, not what a tenant signed.

The difference that rent control makes is over time. In a covered unit, your rent can rise by the yearly cap. In a building from 1979 or later, the state cap may apply instead, or no cap at all. Our Bay Area rent control guide explains the state law (AB 1482).

Which SF neighborhoods have the most rent-controlled apartments for rent

Among the 23 neighborhoods with at least 50 listings:

• Highest shares of listings in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units: Chinatown 95.6% (91 listings), Lakeshore 94.9% (117), Haight Ashbury 89.6% (154) and Inner Richmond 89.0% (145).
• Lowest shares: South of Market 5.6% (1,966 listings), Potrero Hill 9.7% (269), Outer Mission 19.6% (51) and Bayview/Hunters Point 22.2% (63).

South of Market had more listings than any other neighborhood: 1,966 of the 7,175, or 27.4%. 62.0% of them were in buildings from 1979 or later. It also had 339 of the 542 listings we could not match to a parcel.

Look up rent-controlled listings in your SF neighborhood

How to find a rent-controlled apartment in San Francisco

These are practical steps, not findings of the data. A building's age and type are a signal, not a legal determination.

1. Look for the year built in the listing. Many listings do not give it. If one does, 1978 or earlier is the usual sign. A unit whose first certificate of occupancy is after June 13, 1979 is exempt from the rent increase limits.
2. Look for 2 or more units. A flat, duplex or apartment building is the usual case. A single-family home or a condo is usually outside the limits if the tenancy starts now, with exceptions listed by the Rent Board.
3. Check the address yourself. Search it on the city's Property Information Map or the Assessor-Recorder's portal for the year built and the property type.
4. Ask the Rent Board if you are not sure. Counselors answer questions by phone at 415-252-4600. Our guide Is My San Francisco Apartment Rent Controlled? lists the hours and the exceptions.
5. Search where older buildings are. In this report, the neighborhoods with the highest shares of listings in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units were Chinatown, Lakeshore, Haight Ashbury and Inner Richmond. South of Market had the lowest share.
6. Compare total cost over the years you plan to stay. A newer building may ask more at the start, and it may also have no local cap on later increases.

RentReboot's San Francisco rent-controlled apartments page shows listings in buildings that our records suggest were built before the 1979 cutoff, and our alerts try to flag them too. The flag is a best effort signal, so confirm a unit with the landlord and the Rent Board before you sign. Set up Bay Area apartment alerts.

How we measured San Francisco rent-controlled listings

Listings. RentReboot listing data for the City of San Francisco, read on October 13, 2026, with the rules of our Bay Area rents report: active listings first listed in the 180 days before October 1, 2026, one asking price per unit (the most recent), classified-board listings left out, whole-number bedroom counts from 0 to 6. That gave 12,381 units. We then left out 5,206 units that reached us only from home-search portals that re-post listings from other sites, which stopped feeding our data in September 2026. That leaves the 7,175 listings in this report. With those 5,206 units included, 51.5% of 12,381 listings were in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units.

Buildings. San Francisco Assessor, Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls, roll year 2025 (211,547 parcels), read on October 13, 2026. We matched each listing to parcels by house number and street name (5,744 listings). Where that failed, we used the nearest parcel within 25 meters of the listing's map point (889 listings). 542 listings matched neither way. With address matches only, 46.7% of 5,744 listings were in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units.

Classes. For each matched building we used the most common year built across its parcels, and the Assessor's property class:

• Built before 1979, 2 or more units: year 1978 or earlier, not a single-family dwelling on one parcel with 1 unit, and not mostly condo parcels.
• Built before 1979, single-family home or condo: 305 single-family homes and 229 condos.
• Built 1979 or later: year 1979 or later.
• Year unknown: matched parcels with no year built on the roll (436 listings).
• Not matched: no parcel by address or within 25 meters (542 listings).

Condo-mapped parcels the Assessor lists as one "economic unit", and co-op parcels, are not counted as condos. The Rent Board says a condo that the original subdividing owner has not yet sold can still be covered.

Medians. Medians are published only for groups with at least 10 listings, and neighborhoods only when they have at least 50 listings. Neighborhood names are the areas RentReboot uses on its San Francisco pages; 179 listings placed only at the city level are in the citywide figures but not in any neighborhood.

Limits. The Assessor's year built is not the date of the first certificate of occupancy. A parcel match can be wrong where buildings share a street number range. Asks are not leases. The full method, results and a map from every number to its source are in our reproducibility notes.

San Francisco rent-controlled apartments FAQ

How many apartments for rent in San Francisco are rent controlled? We cannot say exactly, because only the Rent Board can decide for a unit. Of 7,175 San Francisco listings first listed from April 4 to September 30, 2026, 3,174 (44.2%) were in buildings with 2 or more units built before 1979, the group most likely to be under the rent increase limits.

Is a rent-controlled apartment cheaper to rent? Not at the start. A landlord can set the first rent for a new tenant. Among 1-bedroom listings, the median ask was $3,995 in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units (1,219 listings) and $4,795 in newer buildings (1,081). The groups differ in location and type, so rent control does not explain that gap.

Which SF neighborhoods have the most rent-controlled apartments for rent? We counted listings in pre-1979 buildings with 2 or more units, the group most likely to be covered. Among neighborhoods with at least 50 listings, Chinatown (95.6% of 91 listings), Lakeshore (94.9% of 117), Haight Ashbury (89.6% of 154) and Inner Richmond (89.0% of 145) had the highest shares. South of Market had the lowest (5.6% of 1,966).

Are SF apartments built before 1979 rent controlled? Many are. sf.gov says many residential units built on or before June 13, 1979 have both rent control and eviction protection. The test is the unit's first certificate of occupancy, not the age a listing gives. Single-family homes and condos are usually exempt from the rent increase limits, so ask the Rent Board to confirm a unit.

Can a landlord raise the rent on a rent-controlled apartment in SF? Yes, by a capped amount. For a covered unit, the most a landlord can raise the rent from March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 is 1.6%, plus any banked increases. The cap applies during your tenancy. A landlord can set the first rent for a new tenant at any level.

Is a single-family home or condo rent controlled? Usually not for rent increases, if the tenancy starts now. The state's Costa-Hawkins Act exempts most single-family homes and condos from the city's increase limits, with exceptions. They still have the city's just cause eviction rules. In our data, 534 listings (7.4%) were pre-1979 single-family homes or condos.

How do I check if a listing is rent controlled? Find the year built and the type of home on the city's Property Information Map, then ask the Rent Board if you are not sure. Our guide Is My San Francisco Apartment Rent Controlled? has the steps.

More San Francisco rent control guides

• Is My San Francisco Apartment Rent Controlled?
• Bay Area Rent Control by City (2026)
• What Does It Cost to Rent in the Bay Area in 2026?
• San Francisco average rents by neighborhood

Sources for San Francisco rent control data

Checked on October 13, 2026.

1. San Francisco Assessor-Recorder: Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls (DataSF): year built, number of units, property class and location for each parcel, roll year 2025.
2. sf.gov: Partial exemption for newly constructed rental units: the June 13, 1979 line.
3. sf.gov: Partial exemption for certain single-family homes and condominiums under Costa-Hawkins: which homes and condos are exempt from the increase limits, and the exceptions.
4. sf.gov: Annual rent increase for 3/1/26 to 2/28/27 announced: 1.6%.
5. sf.gov: Speak to a Rent Board counselor: phone counseling.
6. San Francisco Property Information Map: look up a building's year built.
7. RentReboot listing data, read on October 13, 2026 (see "How we measured this").