Just three years ago, Bay Area landlords were so desperate to find tenants that many were advertising weeks or months of free rent to sweeten the deal. But now, at least in San Francisco, the sugar has run out.
A mere 1.2% of the San Francisco rental properties on Apartment List offered a discount of at least one month’s rent to new tenants in September, according to new data from the online marketplace. That was the second-lowest share among the most-populous U.S. cities for which Apartment List had data, with only Chicago reporting a lower share at 1.1%.
Compare that to the national picture: Nearly a third of the buildings on Apartment List offered a rent concession last month. And that was up from about 23% in January 2025, when the company started tracking discounts…