Episode 2 · Property Types & Supply Dynamics
Pacific Heights Housing: Houses, Condos, Age, Assessments
Most people picture Pacific Heights as a street of large houses, but houses are the smaller part of what is built here. Most of its homes are condo units and flats inside older buildings. This guide shows the mix of houses, condos and apartment buildings, how big and how old they are, how much of each assessed value is land, how long owners stay, and how California's tax cap sets assessed values.
💡 Key Insights & Takeaways
- Of the 5,071 residential parcels in Pacific Heights, 56.3% are condo units, 22.6% are houses and 21.1% are apartment buildings.
- Those parcels hold at least 12,343 homes, and 67.6% of them sit inside apartment buildings.
- The median house has 3,632 square feet of living space, as the county measures it, on a 3,436-square-foot lot, and 89.4% of houses rise two storeys or more.
- The median house was built in 1906, and 70.7% of houses went up before 1920.
- The median house last changed hands 14.2 years ago, and that figure runs short, because recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024.
Pacific Heights assessed values jump 2.78 times, from a median $2,006,575 to $5,574,262, when a house last changed hands in 2020 or later rather than before 2000, as of 30 September 2026. Both groups match in size and lot. Proposition 13 resets the value at each sale. Assessed value is not market value.
Pacific Heights housing at a glance, as of 30 September 2026.
| Measure | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Residential parcels | 5,071 | Parcels, not homes; each condo unit is a parcel of its own |
| Homes the parcels hold | At least 12,343 | A floor; 67.6% sit inside apartment buildings |
| Median living space of a house | 3,632 square feet | The county's measure, which differs from listed sizes; n = 1,066 houses |
| Median assessed value of a house | $3,687,929 | Proposition 13 assessed value, not market value; n = 1,145 houses |
| Median time since a house last changed hands | 14.2 years | Runs short, because recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024; n = 905 dated houses |
What kind of homes are in Pacific Heights?
Most homes in Pacific Heights are not houses. As of 30 September 2026 the neighborhood holds 5,071 residential parcels, and 2,853 of them, 56.3%, are condo units, each recorded as a parcel of its own. Houses on their own lots number 1,146, or 22.6%. The other 1,072 parcels, 21.1%, are apartment buildings, from two-unit flats to buildings of twenty or more units. None of the residential parcels is vacant land.
A parcel count is not a count of homes, because a whole apartment building is one parcel. The 963 buildings that carry a unit count hold 8,344 homes between them, so the parcels hold at least 12,343 homes in all, and 67.6% of those sit inside apartment buildings. That total is a floor, because some buildings carry no unit count and add nothing to it. If you want a house of your own, you are choosing from 1,146 of those 12,343 homes.
Residential parcels in Pacific Heights by type, as of 30 September 2026.
| Type | Parcels | Share of residential parcels |
|---|---|---|
| Condo units | 2,853 | 56.3% |
| Houses on their own lots | 1,146 | 22.6% |
| Apartment buildings | 1,072 | 21.1% |
| Vacant residential land | 0 | 0.0% |
| All residential parcels | 5,071 | — |
How big are Pacific Heights houses, and how much lot comes with them?
The median Pacific Heights house has 3,632 square feet of living space on a 3,436-square-foot lot, as of 30 September 2026. Half of the houses measure between 2,646 and 4,960 square feet, and 40.6% have 4,000 square feet or more. The lots run small for houses that size. Half of them fall between 2,656 and 4,726 square feet, and 65.7% are under 4,000 square feet. These living areas are the county's own measure. On 188 of the 504 houses where a listing also gives a size, the two differ by more than 20%, so the sizes on the Market Guide, which come from listings, will not match these.
Because the lots are small, the houses build up rather than out. The median house has a floor-area ratio of 1.07, which means its living space is 1.07 times the area of its lot, and 57.4% of houses have more living space than land. The median house rises 3 storeys, 89.4% have two storeys or more, and only 10.6% sit on one level.
Inside, the median house has 3 bathrooms. 75.1% of houses have three or more, and 7.0% have just one. A bedroom count is recorded on 68.4% of houses, so the bedroom figures describe that group. In it the median is 4 bedrooms, and the most common layout, at 11.5% of houses, is 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
House size and layout in Pacific Heights, as of 30 September 2026. Living space is the county's measure, not the listed size.
| Measure | Value | Houses counted (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Median living space | 3,632 square feet | 1,066 |
| Half of houses between | 2,646-4,960 square feet | 1,066 |
| Median lot | 3,436 square feet | 1,146 |
| Half of lots between | 2,656-4,726 square feet | 1,146 |
| Median floor-area ratio | 1.07 | 1,066 |
| Two storeys or more | 89.4% | 1,132 |
| Median bathrooms | 3 | 1,143 |
| Median bedrooms, where a count exists | 4 | 784 |
How old are Pacific Heights homes?
The median Pacific Heights house was built in 1906, as of 30 September 2026, and 70.7% of houses went up before 1920. By 1950, 89.8% had been built, and only 3.6% date from 2000 or later. The two-to-four-unit buildings are older still, with a median build year of 1900 across 466 buildings. The condo units are younger, at a median build year of 1929. The data carries no renovation dates, so it cannot tell you which of these homes have been updated inside.
Is it the land or the house you pay for in Pacific Heights?
On most Pacific Heights houses the land carries more of the assessed value than the building. As of 30 September 2026, land makes up a median 60.0% of a house's assessed value, and land outweighs the building on 68.4% of houses. The median house is assessed at $2,107,266 for the land and $1,427,860 for the building. These are Proposition 13 assessed values, not what the land or the house would sell for. The split is set at each house's last reassessment, so a low building value often marks a long hold rather than a small building.
That same gap in the data limits what can be said about rebuilding. 15.9% of houses score as strong teardown candidates, but that figure is a ceiling, not an estimate. The data carries no renovation dates, so every house counts as never updated, and the score runs high. Houses that meet three of the four conditions the data can test, which are land share, building value, a build year before 1900 and floor-area ratio, come to just 1.9%. With a median floor-area ratio above one, most lots are already heavily built.
Why do Pacific Heights assessed values vary so much?
The median Pacific Heights house is assessed at $3,687,929 as of 30 September 2026, and that figure says more about when each house last changed hands than about the house. Proposition 13 sets the assessed value at a sale and lets it rise no more than two percent a year until the next change of ownership. Houses last transferred in 2020 or later carry a median assessed value of $5,300,732, against $2,073,104 for houses last transferred before 2000. Those recent figures stop early, because recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024.
Median assessed value of Pacific Heights homes by when they last changed hands, as of 30 September 2026. These are Proposition 13 assessed values, not market values, and recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024.
| Homes compared | Last changed hands | Median assessed value | Homes (n) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All houses | Before 2000 | $2,073,104 | 172 |
| All houses | 2020 or later | $5,300,732 | 211 |
| Houses of the same size on the same size of lot | Before 2000 | $2,006,575 | 47 |
| Houses of the same size on the same size of lot | 2020 or later | $5,574,262 | 50 |
| Condo units with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms | Before 2000 | $586,662 | 74 |
| Condo units with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms | 2020 or later | $1,639,911 | 178 |
The gap is 2.56 times across all houses, 2.78 times when size and lot are held the same, and 2.80 times for condo units with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, counted among units with a recorded bedroom count. Size does not explain the gap, and the year of the last transfer does. The same pattern shows in the homeowners' exemption, which marks a home its owner lives in and filed for. Houses that carry it have a median assessed value of $2,335,971, against $4,787,364 for houses without it, and their owners have held them about twice as long.
When you buy, your own assessed value resets at that sale. A seller's or a neighbor's assessed value tells you the year they bought, not what yours will be. The data carries no tax amount, so this page states none.
How long do owners hold Pacific Heights homes?
The median Pacific Heights house last changed hands 14.2 years ago, as of 30 September 2026, and that figure runs short. Recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024, well over a year before that date. Every hold figure here is understated by about that gap, and a recent buyer still shows under the owner before them. Among houses with a dated transfer, 63.6% have been held more than 10 years, 33.7% for 20 years or more and 13.6% for 30 years or more. Another 21.0% of houses show no transfer since 1987, when the dated transfers begin, and they are left out of those shares.
Owners who carry the homeowners' exemption hold far longer, a median 22.0 years against 10.8 years for houses without it, and both figures run short for the same reason. Condo units show a shorter median hold than houses, at 11.7 years.
How long Pacific Heights homes have been held, as of 30 September 2026. Every figure runs short, because recorded transfers effectively end in December 2024.
| Measure | Value | Homes (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Median hold, houses | 14.2 years | 905 |
| Houses held more than 10 years | 63.6% | 905 |
| Houses held 20 years or more | 33.7% | 905 |
| Houses held 30 years or more | 13.6% | 905 |
| Median hold, houses with the homeowners' exemption | 22.0 years | 352 |
| Median hold, houses without the exemption | 10.8 years | 553 |
| Median hold, condo units | 11.7 years | 2,483 |
| Houses with no transfer recorded since 1987 | 21.0% | 1,146 |
Common questions
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