Episode 2 · Property Types & Supply Dynamics
Potrero Hill Houses: Size, Age, Tenure and Assessed Value
Potrero Hill is a hill of small lots, older houses and many condominiums. This page shows what is built here, how big and how old the houses are, how long owners keep them, and how California's cap on yearly increases shapes what each one is assessed at. It shows no sale prices, which sit on the market page.
💡 Key Insights & Takeaways
- Just over half of Potrero Hill's 4,218 parcels, or 50.4%, are condominiums, and houses are 31.4%.
- The median house has 1,372 square feet of living area on a lot of 2,495 square feet, and 92.5% of houses sit on lots under 4,000 square feet.
- The median house was built in 1914, 81.9% were built before 1950, and the county keeps no renovation dates in San Francisco.
- The median recorded hold is 14.4 years, and every hold is understated by about 18.6 months because the latest transfer in the data is dated 27 March 2025.
- The rebuild screen flags up to 393 houses, or 29.7%, as strong matches, and that is an upper limit because the county keeps no renovation dates.
A Potrero Hill house last transferred in 2021 or later carries a median assessed value of $1,749,929, against $551,732 for one last transferred before 2001, as of 15 October 2026. That is 3.17 times as much on near-identical lots and living areas. The date of the last transfer moved the assessment, not the house.
At a glance
Potrero Hill houses at a glance, as of 15 October 2026. Houses are single-family parcels.
| Measure | Value | Counted (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Residential parcels | 4,218 | 4,218 parcels |
| Median living area | 1,372 square feet | 1,210 houses |
| Median year built | 1914 | 1,321 houses |
| Median recorded hold | 14.4 years | 968 houses |
| Median assessed value | $999,698 | 1,323 houses |
What kinds of homes stand on Potrero Hill?
Potrero Hill has 4,218 residential parcels. Condominiums are the biggest group. A parcel is one entry in the county's property list, so this counts entries and not homes or people. Condominiums make up 2,127 parcels, or 50.4%. Houses make up 1,323, or 31.4%. Buildings with several homes make up 750, or 17.8%, and the county lists 18 parcels, or 0.4%, as vacant land.
The county's land-use text calls 3,450 of these parcels single family. However, 2,127 of them have no lot of their own, which is how a unit inside a shared building appears in the data, so they are counted here as condominiums. If you are weighing a house against a condominium on this hill, the house is the smaller group.
Table 1. Potrero Hill parcels by type, as of 15 October 2026 (n = 4,218 parcels).
| Type | Parcels | Share of parcels |
|---|---|---|
| Condominium | 2,127 | 50.4% |
| House (single family) | 1,323 | 31.4% |
| Multi-family building | 750 | 17.8% |
| Vacant land | 18 | 0.4% |
How big are Potrero Hill houses and their lots?
The median Potrero Hill house has 1,372 square feet of living area, across the 1,210 houses with a recorded area as of 15 October 2026. Median means that half the houses are smaller than that figure and half are larger. The median condominium has 1,253 square feet, but an area is recorded for only 435 of the 2,127 parcels, so read that figure with care.
The lots are small and close to alike. The median lot is 2,495 square feet across all 1,323 house parcels, and 92.5% of those houses sit on lots under 4,000 square feet. Because the lot barely changes from one house to the next, living area, floors and bathrooms are what set one house apart from another.
On layout, 59.1% of houses have one story and 40.9% have two or more, across 1,297 houses with a recorded story count. 51.2% of houses have one bathroom and 15.3% have three or more, across 1,317 houses with a recorded count.
Table 2. Potrero Hill houses by size and layout, as of 15 October 2026.
| Measure | Value | Houses counted (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Median living area | 1,372 square feet | 1,210 |
| Median lot size | 2,495 square feet | 1,323 |
| Lots under 4,000 square feet | 92.5% | 1,323 |
| One story | 59.1% | 1,297 |
| Two or more stories | 40.9% | 1,297 |
| One bathroom | 51.2% | 1,317 |
| Three or more bathrooms | 15.3% | 1,317 |
How old are Potrero Hill houses, and have they been renovated?
The median Potrero Hill house was built in 1914, across the 1,321 houses with a recorded year built as of 15 October 2026. Of those, 81.9% were built before 1950 and 7.4% in 2000 or later.
The data cannot say how many houses have been renovated. The county keeps no renovation dates in San Francisco, so no house carries one. A house built in 1914 may have been updated inside without the data showing it.
Who owns Potrero Hill houses, and for how long?
The median recorded hold is 14.4 years, across the 968 houses with a transfer date as of 15 October 2026. A hold is the time from a house's last recorded transfer to that date. Of the houses with a transfer date, 37.5% have been held 20 years or more and 15.0% for 30 years or more. Only 12.4% transferred in the five years to 15 October 2026, as far as the data shows.
Read every hold as a minimum. The latest transfer in the data is dated 27 March 2025, about 18.6 months before 15 October 2026, so each hold is understated by about that gap. Also, 355 of the 1,323 houses, or 26.8%, carry no transfer date and are left out of these figures. These figures measure how recently ownership changed and say nothing about price or condition.
The county also marks houses where the owner claims the homeowners' exemption. That covers 46.6% of the 1,323 houses, which is the closest thing in the data to a count of houses where the owner lives.
What are Potrero Hill houses assessed at, and why do neighbours differ?
The median house is assessed at $999,698 (n = 1,323 houses), or $662 per square foot of living area (n = 1,210), as of 15 October 2026. These are the county's assessed values under Proposition 13, not market values. Proposition 13 caps the yearly rise in assessed value at 2% and resets the value when a house changes owners or is newly built.
That reset is why near-identical houses can sit far apart. Houses last transferred in 2021 or later have a median assessed value of $1,749,929 (n = 187 houses). Houses last transferred before 2001 have $551,732 (n = 235). That is 3.17 times as much on lots and living areas that are nearly the same. An assessed value on a neighbouring house shows when it last changed hands, so it cannot stand in for the value a new owner would carry. Transfers after 27 March 2025 are not yet in the data, so a house sold since then still shows its earlier date.
Houses with the homeowners' exemption have a median assessed value of $727,897 (n = 617), against $1,161,557 for houses without it (n = 706). Do not read that gap as a difference in what the houses would sell for. Assessed values for houses acquired in different years reflect the year of acquisition more than the house.
Land makes up 60.0% of the median house's assessed value (n = 1,323), and land is assessed above the building on 69.9% of houses. The split behaves more like a schedule than an appraisal, so read it as the county's allocation and not as what the land and the building would sell for. The data carries no property tax bills, so this page shows assessed values and not tax paid.
Table 3. Potrero Hill assessed values of houses, by last transfer and exemption, as of 15 October 2026. These are assessed values, not market values.
| Group of houses | Median assessed value | Houses counted (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Last transferred in 2021 or later | $1,749,929 | 187 |
| Last transferred before 2001 | $551,732 | 235 |
| With the homeowners' exemption | $727,897 | 617 |
| Without the exemption | $1,161,557 | 706 |
| All houses | $999,698 | 1,323 |
How many Potrero Hill houses match a rebuild screen?
The rebuild screen scores each house on land share, improvement value, age, building size and whether a renovation date exists. Improvement value is the assessed value of the building, apart from the land. A house that meets three or more of the five conditions is a strong match, and one that meets two is a moderate match.
As of 15 October 2026, the screen flags up to 393 of the 1,323 houses, or 29.7%, as strong matches, and 498 more as moderate matches. That is an upper limit. The county keeps no renovation dates in San Francisco, so the screen treats every house as not renovated. Counting only the four conditions the data can measure, 9.1% of houses are strong matches. The screen describes how houses look on paper. It does not say that any house will be rebuilt or sold, and it is not advice.
Common questions
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