Oakland Apartments Outyield Houses, Houses Lead on Growth

The yield gap between Oakland apartments and houses is a price-mechanism story, not a property-quality story. Apartments enter the market at roughly two-thirds the ticket price of comparable houses, yet nightly rates and monthly rents fall by far less than that, so gross yields come out higher on the smaller entry ticket. Market-wide, apartments gross 4.2% on short-term rental versus 3.1% for houses, a gap of 1.1% before HOA fees are deducted.

These are city medians across 49 ZIP codes in Oakland (Alameda County); your specific neighborhood may sit well above or below these figures, and the apartment edge can flip once HOA fees and appreciation are factored in.

The Bedroom-by-Bedroom Comparison Shows Where the Apartment Edge Holds

The table below pairs house and apartment medians side by side at each bedroom count, and shows both short-term and long-term yields so you can judge each strategy against the other within the same property type.

City medians across 49 ZIP codes. Gross yields before HOA (apartments) and before operating costs.

The highest-yielding combination is the 1-bed apartment at 4.5% on short-term rental. The long-term column tells a quieter story: it is more compressed than the short-term column and less sensitive to property type, because long-term tenants pay per square foot more evenly than short-term guests pay per night. If long-term rental is your primary strategy, the apartment advantage shrinks considerably.

The Gap Is Price-to-Rent Arithmetic, Partially Offset by HOA Fees

At the 2-bed tier, the arithmetic is stark. A median 2-bed apartment sells for $613,794 while a 2-bed house sells for $918,237. Apartment rents and nightly rates do not scale down in the same proportion, because what guests pay for is the bed and the location, not the land underneath. A studio or 2-bed apartment a block from Jack London Square or Lake Merritt commands a nightly rate not far from a comparable 2-bed house a few streets away, but on a fraction of the capital outlay.

HOA fees eat into that apparent advantage. A 2-bed Oakland apartment in a typical mid-rise carries HOA dues estimated at around $5,614 per year, and the figure climbs in newer luxury buildings in the Uptown and Lake Merritt corridors, where amenities, concierge, and seismic retrofit reserves push annual dues materially higher. Older stock in outer neighborhoods sits well below that average. When you deduct HOA from gross rent, the apartment-to-house yield gap narrows and in some buildings can reverse outright.

The second apartment-specific risk is the HOA covenant itself. Individual condo associations in California can, and frequently do, prohibit short-term rentals by board vote regardless of what Oakland's municipal code permits. The CC&Rs matter more than the city ordinance once you have signed. Always read the HOA rules and request the minutes from the last two annual meetings before you commit.

View Oakland in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Bedroom Yields Move in Opposite Directions for Houses and Apartments

House yields in Oakland tend to climb as bedroom counts rise, because larger houses command disproportionately higher nightly rates from group travelers, multi-generational visitors, and corporate relocations around UCSF and the Port. The baseline reference point is a standard 3-bed house, which grosses 2.9% on short-term rental and 2.5% on long-term rental. Moving up to a 4+ bed house often pushes yields higher still, although the category bundles 4, 5, and 6-plus bedroom listings and small sample sizes can pull the median around.

Apartments run a different curve. The highest apartment yields typically sit at 1-bed and 2-bed, where entry prices are lowest relative to nightly rates driven by solo travelers, couples, and business guests. By 4+ bed, apartment yields often fade back to 4.0%, reflecting the steep per-bedroom premium that large downtown condos carry without a proportional uplift in nightly rate. The long-term column follows the same broad shape but compressed: apartment long-term yields flatten once you get above 2-bed because Oakland's long-term demand for large apartments is thinner than demand for houses of the same size.

Neighborhood Variation Matters More Than Property Type

Oakland's ZIP-level spread is wide. Downtown/Lake Merritt (94612) leads the city at 5.7% on a median price of $616,594, with San Leandro (94579) close behind at 5.4%. At the other end of the ranked list, San Leandro (94578) prints 4.4% on $822,750, and lower-ranked suburbs fall further. A 3-bed house in one Oakland ZIP can yield almost double what the same property type yields three miles away, because the rent curve is much flatter than the price curve across the city. Whichever way the house-vs-apartment comparison breaks at the city level, it can flip entirely once you drill into the specific suburb you are evaluating. The dashboard shows suburb-level data for every bedroom count and property type, so you can compare within the exact area you are targeting.

What the Yield Table Does Not Show

• HOA fees: Estimated at around $5,614 per year for a 2-bed Oakland apartment, and not deducted from the gross yields in the table above. Newer luxury Uptown and Lake Merritt buildings charge materially more; older East Oakland stock less.
• Capital appreciation: Houses typically outperform apartments on long-term value growth in the Bay Area because you own the land, and Oakland land values have compounded strongly over the last two decades. An apartment's yield edge can be overtaken by a house's price appreciation over a 10-year hold.
• Renovation and use optionality: Houses offer extensions, ADU conversions, lot splits under California's SB-9, and pool or garden additions that apartments cannot match. ADUs in particular have become a meaningful second income stream for Oakland house owners.
• Financing constraints: Some lenders restrict mortgages on small apartments (under 500 sq ft), non-warrantable condo buildings, or buildings with high investor-to-owner ratios. Bay Area lenders also scrutinize HOA financial health, which can disqualify otherwise attractive units.
• 4+ bed data breadth: The 4+ bed category bundles 4, 5, and 6-plus bedroom listings. A small number of outlier properties, especially in the Oakland hills, can pull the median meaningfully in either direction.

Oakland Is a Premium Appreciation Market, Not a Cash-Flow Market

Context anchors the decision. Oakland's median house price of $1,145,000 is materially above California's state median of $687,000 and roughly four times the national median of $242,500. Gross yields of 3.0% long-term and 4.8% short-term sit below the national median of 5.3%. Put plainly: nobody buys Oakland for cash flow. Investors buy Oakland for the location premium, the tight supply, and the long-run appreciation curve on a land-scarce peninsula-adjacent market.

That framing changes the house-vs-apartment call. If you are buying for monthly yield, the apartment edge before HOA is real but modest, and the appreciation gap over a decade will likely favor the house. If you are buying for appreciation, the house is the more durable bet. The apartment case gets strongest when a specific unit combines a below-average HOA, a permissive CC&R stance on short-term rental, and a neighborhood that over-indexes on tourist or business demand (Jack London Square, Lake Merritt, Temescal).

On regulation, Oakland follows the California pattern: Short-term rentals heavily restricted in Oakland. Investment properties generally not permitted; may require owner occupancy, specific zoning, or other conditions (permit required). Oakland restricts short-term rentals to primary residences. Short-term rental of non-primary residences is prohibited. Hosts must register with the city. Transient occupancy tax in Oakland currently applies at around 12.0%, typically collected by the booking platform. Verify primary-residence requirements, night caps, and registration rules with the City of Oakland before committing capital.

For a different angle on the same market, market score methodology explains how the long-term and short-term scores weight price, rent, occupancy, and regulation. The data sources page documents the Redfin, ATTOM, AirDNA, and Zillow inputs behind these figures. For a comparison Bay Area market, see Los Angeles Yields 3.7% as Investors Bet on Appreciation. Oakland's 3.0% Yield Means Appreciation Must Do the Heavy Lifting takes the wider view on why Oakland's gross yields sit where they do and how appreciation must do the heavy lifting.

Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.