Lurie leads effort to cut transfer tax to spur housing and economy
March 22, 2026
Patrick Hoge, SF Examiner
Some advocates for public affordable housing cried foul in 2024 over a successful ballot measure that cut city transfer taxes for certain office-to-housing conversions because it also authorized the Board of Supervisors to amend, reduce, suspend or repeal them altogether without voter approval.
Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood are now leading an effort to take advantage of that provision. They said their proposal to cut The City’s transfer tax on large property sales would encourage such transactions, fuel residential building activity, stimulate construction employment and energize the downtown economy.
“The [Balanced Update to Incentivize Local Development] Act will unlock stalled housing projects and create thousands of good union jobs,” Lurie said in a press release unveiling the plan, which is awaiting consideration by the Board of Supervisors. “The BUILD Act will incentivize investment in these housing projects and buildings downtown — stimulating new jobs for electricians, plumbers, and laborers.”
Billed as a jobs and housing package, the legislation would halve the real-property transfer-tax rate from 5.5% to 2.75% for transactions valued between $10 million and $25 million, and from 6% to 3% for transactions of more than $25 million. The tax cuts would not apply to single-family residences or for property transfers worth less than $10 million.
In sum, the legislation would roll back Proposition I, the 2020 ballot measure championed by the man Mahmood unseated from office, former District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston. It doubled transfer taxes on property transactions of $10 million or more, exempting sales to The City or to qualified affordable-housing nonprofits.
