San Diego Multifamily Report – June 2025
Metrics are mixed, but the rental market still holds its own.
San Diego multifamily fundamentals were slower but still steady at the start of the new leasing season, with asking rent gains up 0.1 percent year-over-year through April 2025, to $2,741, lagging the 0.9 percent U.S. rate. Occupancy in stabilized properties also inched up 10 basis points year-over-year, to 96.2 percent in March. The national occupancy rate was 94.4 percent, at its lowest level in more than a decade.
Employment growth remained sluggish in San Diego, at 0.4 percent as of February, while the U.S. rate stood at 0.9 percent. The metro gained 9,900 net jobs, with jobs added in only three sectors: education and health services (9,300 jobs), government (9,000) and leisure and hospitality (4,100). Professional and business services (-5,100) and manufacturing (-3,300) posted the largest losses. Area unemployment clocked in at 4.0 percent in April, faring slightly better than the 4.2 percent U.S. average. The $1.4 billion Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, which is anticipated to create 1,800 jobs, just opened. Meanwhile, citing rising debt and construction costs, Hines paused work on the Riverwalk Golf Club redevelopment, a $4 billion mixed-use project that’s expected to include 4,300 apartments, as well as office and retail.
Developers delivered 706 units this year through April and had another 12,387 apartments underway. Meanwhile, investors traded a substantial $752 million in assets in the first four months, with the average per-unit price slightly down, to $390,056.
