Question 1

How stable is the tenant base behind a stabilized San Diego commercial asset?

Accepted Answer

Unusually stable, because the anchor is federal installations rather than a single industry cycle. Defense spending accounted for 22.2% of San Diego County's gross regional product and 22.4% of its labor force in FY2025, and Naval Base San Diego, Naval Base Coronado, Point Loma, and MCAS Miramar are not tenants that vacate on a lease term. Total direct defense spending did fall 3.0% year over year in FY2025 under a continuing resolution, so a permanent lender still underwrites your actual rent roll and tenant credit, not the base's presence alone.

Question 2

Is there published cap-rate or vacancy data for San Diego commercial property?

Accepted Answer

No. No San Diego CRE vacancy, rent, or cap-rate figure has been verified for any asset class. So a permanent quote here is built from your executed leases and tenant credit rather than a market survey or a comp set pulled off a listing site.

Question 3

Why does the property tax line on a San Diego commercial parcel jump after a purchase?

Accepted Answer

Because Proposition 13 resets the assessment to your purchase price, not the seller's. San Diego County's ad valorem rate runs from 1.01903% to 1.28664% depending on the tax rate area, so a $1,000,000 purchase at a common City of San Diego rate near 1.25% carries roughly $12,500 a year, four times what the same parcel paid under a base held since the 1990s. The reset arrives as a supplemental assessment mid-year, outside the regular two-installment bill, so a permanent lender underwrites the rate for your tax rate area applied to your purchase price, never the listing's stated "annual taxes" line.

Question 4

Do Mello-Roos district charges affect a stabilized asset's debt service coverage?

Accepted Answer

They can, and they sit entirely outside the tax rate above. Community Facilities District special taxes are fixed charges rather than ad valorem, so they are not capped by Proposition 13 and do not show up in the parcel's tax rate area percentage. They cluster in eastern Chula Vista and the newer north county master-planned areas, where a parcel can carry several thousand dollars a year of district and open-space charges stacked on the regular bill. Pull the parcel's actual fixed charges from its tax bill before you size debt service on it.

Question 5

My San Diego property isn't stabilized yet. Can you finance it now and refinance later?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Get it leased up first, then move to permanent debt once the rent roll is signed. We place both sides: a bridge loan carries the property through lease-up or repositioning, and once it performs, we shop the file across agency multifamily programs, insurance companies, and wholesale lenders for the long-term structure that fits your hold. Because no San Diego cap-rate or vacancy data has been sourced, the refinance is priced off your actual leases and tenant credit at the time you're ready, not a published market rate.

Question 6

Does the county's proposed transfer tax change what I owe when I eventually sell?

Accepted Answer

Not today, and a page should not pretend to know the number in advance. San Diego County currently charges only the statewide base documentary transfer tax, and the City of San Diego adds no charter-city surcharge on top of it, unlike Los Angeles or San Francisco. That add-on has not been confirmed against the San Diego Municipal Code, so have escrow confirm the current City schedule before you rely on the number. A county-level transfer tax increase has been under study by the Board of Supervisors, but no rate, threshold, or effective date has been adopted, so underwrite your exit on today's base rate and revisit it before closing.

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