28 Jun San Diego Multifamily Current Trends

Rents have increased, showing a 0.5% improvement through a T3 basis from April, as seen in the graph below. The San Diego metro average is $2,699, while the average in the U.S. is at $1,709. Year over year San Diego saw a 6.3% increase in rates while the U.S. saw an increase of 3.2%.


San Diego’s unemployment rate has continued to be at 3.7% (California’s is 4.4% and the U.S. unemployment rate is 3.4%). In the 12 months leading up to March of 2023, San Diego has added 59,900 new positions. With this being said, biotech layoffs are projected to increase as there is less focus on COVID-19.

As of April 2023, there are 7,980 units under construction with 23,200 more units in the planning and permitting stages. As far as inventory growth, San Diego’s pipeline has actually been decreasing. In Q1 2023 there were 389 units starting construction, whereas at the same time in 2022 there were 1,502. Through April 2023 San Diego has seen 429 apartments delivered.

Throughout the first 4 months of 2023, San Diego has seen $178 million in multifamily assets being traded. This is a huge decrease from last year at $731 million during this same time frame. San Diego’s price per unit dropped 37% this year from last year to $280,637.