San Francisco is the only U.S. apartment market that hasn’t seen a full recovery to pre-pandemic rents, landlord Equity Residential said in its earnings call yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. A halting return of employees to their offices is still weighing down demand for apartments in the city. That’s limiting how much Equity Residential can raise rents, Chief Operating Officer Michael Manelis said. Once local firms set formal return dates — likely in 2022 — rents in San Francisco are set to improve, he said. The San Francisco region had just 25% of employees back in their offices in the week ended Oct. 20, the lowest share among 10 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to swipe-card data from security firm Kastle Systems. An index measuring national returns was at 37%.
