San Diego (metro area) real estate market — prices, rental yield and trend

• Gross rental yield: 3.83%
• 12-month price change (USD): 0.9%
• Net rental yield: 3.42%
• Transaction cost: 6.9%
• Price basis: regional average

San Diego (metro area) is one of the 271 property markets Glopra tracks.

What a buyer pays in San Diego (metro area)

Buying costs — transfer tax or stamp duty, notary, registration and agency — come to about 6.9% of the price here. That is below the 10.3% median across the set, which shortens the time it takes for a purchase to break even.

What it earns

The typical home here lets for about $2,967 a month against a purchase price of $929,618, which is 3.8% gross before tax. Neither figure is quoted per square metre in this market, but both come from the same source, so the ratio between them holds. It ranks 221st of 269 markets by gross yield. Rental income is taxed at 10–30% — the rate is not a single number here. That is the difference between 2.7% and 3.5% net on the same property. The 3.4% net figure we publish uses 10.7%.

How the tax works. 10.66% under the IRC § 871(d) election, which treats the letting as effectively connected income taxed on a net basis at progressive rates (Form 1040-NR with W-8ECI); the lower part of the band (10–11%) is the spread across typical rent levels under that election. Without the election the default is a 30% withholding on the gross rent (§ 871(a)), the upper end of the band — three to four times the net tax, so virtually every real owner elects. Non-resident aliens get no standard deduction and the NIIT does not apply. Depreciation (27.5-year MACRS) is not included; with it the real burden is roughly 5–6%. Source: irs.gov.

Who can buy in San Diego (metro area)

Freehold, no restrictions. That is the rule a foreign buyer meets first, not legal advice — check the current position locally before you commit.

How this figure is built

The price figure for San Diego (metro area) is built from asking prices from listings. It was last refreshed on 2026-10-17. We rate our confidence in this market’s data medium: the series is usable, but thinner or less current than our best-covered markets. We recompute every market the same way; a figure that fails our checks is suppressed, not guessed.

Sources: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI, September 2026 Market Report · zillow.com. Snapshot: 2026-10-17.