Homeowners association dues around the San Francisco metro just cleared a painful new benchmark, with the median monthly payment hitting $502 in 2025. That is up sharply from roughly $360 in 2019, turning HOA bills into one more major fixed cost for already stretched buyers and owners.
According to Axios, which drew on research from Realtor.com, the median HOA fee in the San Francisco metro area reached $502 last year. Data from Realtor.com shows that number sits well above California's median of about $336 and far beyond the national median near $135, piling on to the monthly squeeze across the Bay Area housing market.
Insurance And Building Costs Are Pushing Dues Higher
Local reporting points to a familiar villain behind those rising bills: sharply higher condo and association insurance costs. Some boards have been pushed onto more expensive policies or forced to raise assessments to keep up with premiums, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Industry groups told the Chronicle that rising service and insurance costs often get passed straight through to owners in the form of higher monthly fees.
For older buildings, the hit can be even harder. Deferred maintenance and required capital repairs can push boards to hike dues further or levy special assessments, creating a second wave of costs on top of already elevated monthly payments.
HOAs Are Becoming Harder To Avoid
Realtor.com's research finds that HOAs themselves are getting harder to dodge. The share of listings with a nonzero HOA fee climbed to 43.6% in 2025, up from about 34.3% in 2019. Condos, townhomes and many new builds are the most likely to come with monthly dues attached.
That shift means there are fewer listings without association costs, shrinking the pool of properties for buyers who want to steer clear of HOAs altogether. Developers and amenity-heavy projects are reshaping the resale inventory, which in turn helps keep median dues elevated in high-priced metros like San Francisco.
What Buyers Should Check
For anyone shopping in the region, HOA dues need to be treated like part of the mortgage when running affordability numbers. Buyers are generally advised to review an association's budget, meeting minutes, reserve study and any recent special assessments before they close.
SFGATE, summarizing Realtor.com's analysis and input from local experts, recommends asking whether reserves are adequately funded and whether the building has a history of surprise assessments. A well-funded reserve account lowers the odds of sudden, expensive one-off charges.
For San Franciscans already grappling with some of the highest housing costs in the country, rising HOA dues are now a key factor reshaping buying and ownership decisions. Local reporting urges owners and would-be buyers to keep a close eye on association budgets and on the local insurance market, either of which can shift the true monthly cost of owning a home in a hurry.
