San Mateo County renters are living in two different worlds right now. On paper, asking rents are up across the county. In reality, most of the action is clustered in a few hot spots, while a lot of older apartments are barely moving on price. Local planners and property managers say a mix of shiny new buildings and a thinner construction pipeline is helping create this split market.
Countywide, the median asking rent rose about 6% year over year to roughly $3,368, according to the San Mateo Daily Journal, which compiled data from Zumper and Apartment List. That price point keeps the Peninsula among the most expensive rental markets in the Bay Area and helps explain why more households are staying put in their current units. High occupancy and tight demand continue to set the tone for local leasing.
Zoom in to the city level and the gap gets obvious fast. One-bedroom asking rents in May hovered near $3,500 in Foster City and about $3,510 in Menlo Park, according to local reports from Zumper and Menlo Park data from Zumper. Redwood City and Burlingame are not far behind that top tier. On the other end of the spectrum, Daly City and South San Francisco are still in the county’s relative bargain bin, with one-bedrooms in the low $2,000s. Those differences are quietly steering where renters hunt and what kind of unit they can realistically chase.
Why Foster City Rents Jumped
Foster City is one of the clearest examples of the surge. One-bedroom asking rents there jumped from roughly $3,170 in May 2025 to about $3,500 last month, a move local officials tie to tight supply and a wave of nearby hiring.
Older Buildings Lag Behind
That story does not hold everywhere. Prodesse Property Group, which manages many of the county’s older, more affordable apartment complexes, reported only about a 1% year-over-year rent increase across its portfolio. Its internal survey also found that the share of tenants moving out to buy homes slipped from roughly 4.85% to about 3%. Michael Pierce of Prodesse told the Daily Journal that our asking rent is still not back to 2019 levels, a reminder that brand-new luxury projects are soaking up the top end of renter demand while long-standing properties serve a different crowd. Prodesse’s company pages outline the Peninsula communities where it operates.
What the Pipeline Means for Renters
Look at the construction pipeline and the pressure makes more sense. Cities such as San Mateo still have active development plans, but actual completions have slowed. Local reporting shows San Mateo has delivered about 155 new units so far in 2025–26, compared with roughly 514 units in 2023–24. That gap goes a long way toward explaining why asking rents are not easing for most residents. Housing advocates often point out that adding market-rate units can, in theory, free up older apartments for lower- and middle-income renters, but that does not translate into real affordability relief for most households staring at the monthly bill.
For a broader view of this split market and how rentals stack up against condos and single-family homes across the Peninsula, see Hoodline’s recent coverage of the Peninsula’s housing picture.
In the near term, renters should brace for an uneven landscape. Neighborhoods with fresh luxury stock are likely to keep pushing list prices higher, while older multifamily buildings will hew more closely to local wages and what existing tenants can actually pay. City officials and developers keep circling back to the same long-term fix: more housing completions, backed by financing that can get stalled projects moving again.
