San Francisco, CA
San Francisco was written off as dead. Now, real estate investors are flocking back.
The clouds hanging over San Francisco since the pandemic appear to be finally lifting — leading to predictions of a real estate rebound.
Following years of emptying office buildings and vacated storefronts, Fog City is buzzing again, thanks to return-to-office mandates at Amazon, Google, Salesforce, and more. This is good news for the city’s apartment buildings — and now some professional investors are taking notice.
“San Francisco had become an unsavory city, but we believe we’re starting to see a real recovery and we think it’s a good time to buy,” said Tom Shapiro, the president and founder of GTIS, a New York City based real estate investment firm with $4.7 billion of assets under management.
Shapiro is predicting rents will grow between 4% and 6% this year and next. Property values, meanwhile, have declined 30% to 50% from their pre-pandemic highs, creating an attractive buying opportunity.
Asking rents in San Francisco were about $3,500 a month in the first quarter of 2020 and fell 25% by the end of the year as a result of the dislocation caused by the pandemic, according to estimates from the residential brokerage firm Compass. Average rents are now about $3,200 a month, closing in on pre-pandemic levels, including a 6.4% year-over-year jump in the first quarter, the Compass data showed.
Shapiro is also seeing growing competition in the space, including a nearly $100 million apartment property in the city that he said he is vying with three other bidders to purchase.
“There’s more people interested,” Shapiro said. “It’s not a secret like it was a year ago.”
GTIS
Dealmaking is back
About $363 million of individual multifamily real estate assets were sold in San Francisco in the first quarter of 2025, according to data from MSCI, triple the dollar volume during the same period last year and the year prior. MSCI’s analysis omitted large, multi-property deals, such as Brookfield’s acquisition of a portfolio of more than 70 apartments buildings in the city in early 2024, because they can artificially inflate the data.
Eli Edwards, the US head of real estate equity investments at Fortress Investment Group, said it has acquired 13 rental buildings in San Francisco in the past two years. The firm is currently under contract to acquire two more rental buildings in the city and has offers out for several more rental properties. Edwards said he is looking to double the number of apartments in the firm’s portfolio there this year.
Edwards, who lived in the city’s Russian Hill neighborhood until recently, urged Fortress to become an early investor in the city’s turnaround because he felt that negative perceptions were overblown and that much of the homelessness and disorder associated with the city were focused in only a handful of areas, including its Financial District and the Tenderloin, a nearby neighborhood.
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Edwards said the firm has signed over 20 leases in the last year with rents “about 10% above” what the firm had expected to fetch when the units were vacated.
“The Fortress DNA is, find a situation where the perception of risk is higher than the actual risk,” Edwards said. “That was San Francisco.”
Philip Saglimbeni, a senior managing director at Institutional Property Advisors, a commercial real estate sales firm, said he and his team recently found a buyer for Presidio Landmark, a 161-unit luxury rental building controlled by Brookfield through a long-term ground lease. Saglimbeni said the buyer was offering “north of a hundred million” dollars for the property, which is located in the Presidio, a national park south of the Golden Gate Bridge.
He declined to disclose the purchaser’s identity, saying the agreement was still being finalized, but said it was an “investment advisory shop.”
A spokeswoman for Brookfield declined to comment.
New inventory is scarce
The city’s anemic pipeline of new housing, which could raise rents even higher, adds to its appeal among investors, who believe the city’s scarcity of apartments will inflate rents.
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A report by the San Francisco Planning Department that was released in April stated that 1,597 units of new housing were added in the city in 2024, 56% below the yearly average over the last decade. 1,024 units were permitted for construction during the year, 67% below the 10-year annual average.
“It’s a massive imbalance and it will be perpetual,” Saglimbeni said, describing the discrepancy between the demand for housing and new supply in San Francisco. “That’s what investors see and that’s why they gravitate to regions like this.”
The city’s beleaguered office market has also begun to improve, offering another potential boost to the apartment market’s recovery by luring in more workers who may want to rent apartments.
Office attendance in San Francisco recently reached about 43% of its pre-pandemic levels, according to employee swipe data from Kastle System, far above its record low of about 8% in 2020. 1.7 million square feet of space was leased in San Francisco during the first quarter, the most activity since 2019, according to data from the real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.
Early last year, Brookfield paid more than $600 million to acquire distressed loans tied to more than 2,000 apartments spread across more than 70 buildings in San Francisco and took ownership of the properties.
“When we made that investment, people weren’t going to the office, people weren’t going downtown,” said Mike Greene, a managing director at Brookfield who oversees its residential investments in the western US. “And that’s dramatically changed.”
Greene said that the 75 buildings in the portfolio now have a 95% occupancy rate, up from 67% when Brookfield took ownership.
“We feel pretty good about that,” Greene said.
San Francisco, CA
50 Beagles Rescued From Wisconsin Lab Arrive in Bay Area, SF Activist Faces Felony Charges
Animal rescue groups persuaded a Wisconsin breeding lab to sell 1,500 beagles after activists worked for a decade to free them, and 50 of the dogs arrived in the Bay Area Sunday. Meanwhile, an SF activist faces 12 years in prison for rescuing some of them prior to the deal.
Last month, several animal rights activists attempted to free 1,500 beagles at Wisconsin-based Ridglan Farms, the second-largest breeder of beagles for laboratories in the US, as KGO reported last week. Four activists, including Dean Guzman Wyrzykowski of San Francisco, were arrested during the rescue operation and charged with felonies, with up to 12 years in prison, according to a post by Wyrzykowski on social media.
“There are thousands of dogs just like her in laboratories across the country,” says Wyrzykowski, while holding the dog he’s accused of stealing.
Last week, animal rights group Big Dog Ranch Rescue, which is based in Florida, and DC-based Center for a Humane Economy made a confidential agreement with the lab to purchase the animals to be adopted out by rescue groups. Per KGO, well-known Berkeley activist Zoe Rosenberg, who brought one beagle named Chester home with her, was among the volunteers helping the dogs in Wisconsin after they were rescued.
As KGO reports, the Northern California Beagle Rescue Group brought 50 beagles to the Bay Area via school bus Sunday, and they’ll be adopting them out to homes in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and nearby cities once they’ve received veterinary care.
The dogs had likely never touched grass until after leaving the lab, and they’ve been slowly acclimating to their new lives. Some were reportedly malnourished and most had bad teeth and were in need of dental work.
“It was very emotional,” says Wendy Lansdon, a volunteer with Northern California Beagle Rescue, speaking to KGO about when the bus full of dogs first arrived in the Bay Area. “Some of them were really quiet when we got in there, some of them were happy, and the other ones were terrified.”
Prior to the dogs’ arrival, the Northern California Beagle Rescue Group announced on social media it was seeking foster home volunteers in Fremont, San Jose, and Sacramento — near where the beagles will be receiving veterinary care. The group is also requesting donations to help fund the dogs’ vet care.
According to the site Save the Dogs, activists had been pushing for the closure of Ridglan Farms for almost 10 years, as investigators, whistleblowers, veterinarians, and others worked to spread the word about the inhumane conditions of the lab, which stayed in operation for decades, despite being hit with hundreds of state-level cruelty violations.
“The dogs born there were treated as inventory: bred, confined, sold to research, disposed of,” says Save the Dogs.
Save the Dogs notes that activists are now targeting Marshall BioResources, the largest breeder of dogs for laboratories in the country, which has operations in New York and the United Kingdom.
Image: Northern California Beagle Rescue/Facebook
Division-leading Dodgers aim to snap home losing trend as they open series against the Giants in a matchup of NL West foes
After dropping their second straight home series over the weekend, the Los Angeles Dodgers head into Monday night’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants sitting atop the National League West Division standings, aiming to avenge a series loss to the Giants from two weeks ago. San Francisco has lost nine of its last 12 games overall and have dropped seven in a row on the road as they begin a 10-game road trip that will keep them away from home until Memorial Day Weekend. The Giants will start Trevor McDonald (1-0, 1.29 ERA) in his fourth start in the Majors while the Dodgers will counter with second-year Japanese import Roki Sasaki (1-3, 5.97 ERA) who has given up a home run in five consecutive outings.
How to Watch San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers:
Date: May 11, 2026
Time: 10:00 p.m. ET
TV Channel: MLB Network
Location: Dodgers Stadium
Live Stream the San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers game on Fubo: Start watching now!
Dodger center fielder Andy Pages, who has helped Los Angeles claim World Series titles in each of his first two years in the Majors, leads the team this season hitting .333, ranking the 25-year-old Cuban third among all hitters in MLB. Pages is hitting .371 so far in May with five extra base hits and 10 RBIs and has successfully reached base in 13 of his last 14 games.
With nine hits in seven games so far this month, Giants second baseman Luis Arraez is hitting a team-leading .310 at the plate in 2026 and is on pace for his eighth career 100-hit campaign. Arraez is one of only two active players with a career batting average above .300, hitting .316 for his career and leads Houston’s Jose Altuve by 15 points.
What time is Giants vs Dodgers?
Coverage of the San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers starts Monday, May 11, at 10:00 p.m ET. Tune in to see if the Dodgers can beat the Giants for the fifth time in the last six games at Dodger Stadium or if San Francisco can beat LA for the fourth time in the last five head-to-head matchups.
What channel is the Giants vs Dodgers game on?
Looking to watch the game? Subscribers can tune to MLB Network to catch the action. Make sure you subscribe to Fubo now to watch this matchup at home or on the go with the Fubo TV app.
Watch the San Francisco Giants vs Los Angeles Dodgers game on Fubo: Start watching now!
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Happy Mother’s Day to all the McCoven who hopefully have better things to do than watch this dreadful baseball team. But if this is your chosen way of spending the day, then welcome, and may the Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the series for you.
Right-hander Tyler Mahle takes the mound for the Giants, as the veteran makes his eighth start of the year. He’s 1-4 on the season, with a 5.00 ERA, a 4.91 FIP, and 34 strikeouts to 18 walks in 36 innings. He was very strong his last time out, pitching 5.1 shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.
For the Pirates, it’s right-hander Bubba Chandler, a 23-year old in his second season. In seven starts this year, Chandler is 1-4 with a 4.76 ERA, a 5.60 FIP, and 31 strikeouts to 26 walks in 34 innings. Chandler gave up two runs in five innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks in his last game. He has issued the most walks in the Major Leagues, so he’s probably foaming at the mouth to face the Giants, who apparently believe that drawing walks is a sin on par with murder.
Enjoy the game, everyone. Go Giants! Go moms!
Who: San Francisco Giants (15-24) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (22-18)
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area
Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM
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