Oakland Multifamily Market Report

New supply impacts vacancy. Roughly half of the of units delivered over the past year ending in March were in Oakland-Berkeley, the East Bay’s highest vacancy submarket. In response, metro availability rose to 5.2 percent entering April. Hybrid work options and inflationary pressures on household budgets have hindered apartment demand in the urban core for the near-term, with more residents shifting to places like Walnut Creek-Lafayette, San Ramon-Dublin and Fremont. These settings offer access to high-quality schools and public transit that still allows for timely commutes into urban locales across the Bay Area. However, the Downtown Oakland Specific Plan is attempting to revitalize the CBD by revising zoning and height restrictions to allow for mixed-use and transit-oriented development. This will help create a better live-work-play environment and likely benefit urban core renter demand moving forward.