SF District 7 Real Estate: Pacific Heights, Marina, Cow Hollow & More
SF District 7 is the San Francisco Association of Realtors’ MLS search district for the city’s northern neighborhoods between Van Ness Avenue and the Presidio: the Marina (7A), Pacific Heights (7B), Presidio Heights (7C) and Cow Hollow (7D). It is a real estate search area, not a Board of Supervisors district, and its lines do not match the city’s supervisorial map. Within those four neighborhoods it runs from bayfront fill to ridge-top mansions.
Agents and portals use the district and subdistrict codes to group sales, so a “District 7” market statistic blends very different housing: 1920s houses and flats on filled land, Victorian and Edwardian houses on the slopes, a dense cluster of designated landmark houses, and condominium buildings near Van Ness. This page explains how the four neighborhoods differ and links to a full guide for each.
SF District 7 homes for sale
SF District 7 market report
The four neighborhoods at a glance
| Neighborhood (MLS code) | Character | Main transit |
|---|---|---|
| Marina (7A) | Flat bayfront land filled by 1912; 1920s and 1930s houses over garages, flats and corner apartment buildings; Chestnut Street shops | 22, 30, 43 and 45 Muni lines; Lombard Street (U.S. 101) |
| Pacific Heights (7B) | Ridge-top mix of landmark mansions, Victorians, Edwardians, flats and apartment buildings; Fillmore Street and two hilltop parks | 22, 1, 24 and 43 Muni lines; 49 on Van Ness |
| Presidio Heights (7C) | Mostly RH-1 single-family blocks from the early 1900s along the Presidio wall; Sacramento Street shops | 1 California and 43 Masonic |
| Cow Hollow (7D) | Sloping valley of Victorians, Edwardians and two- to three-unit flats between Lombard and Green; Union Street commercial district | 45 Union/Stockton, 22 Fillmore; 49 on Van Ness |
Neighboring MLS districts: District 1 (Richmond, Lake Street, Jordan Park and Laurel Heights) lies west of Arguello Boulevard and, on the western blocks, south of California Street; District 6 (Lower Pacific Heights, Western Addition and others) lies south of California Street; and District 8 (Russian Hill, North Waterfront, Van Ness/Civic Center and the northeast) lies east of Van Ness.
One district, two kinds of ground
The single biggest physical difference inside District 7 is underfoot. The Marina was made by filling a cove between the late 1860s and 1912, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s study of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake found that sand boils were most conspicuous where hydraulic fill lies beneath, and that the Marina’s damage was packed into a small part of the neighborhood, the blocks north of Chestnut between Baker and Buchanan Streets.
Pacific Heights and Presidio Heights sit on the ridge. San Francisco Planning’s copy of the state seismic hazard zone maps shows no liquefaction zone in Presidio Heights or across the body of Pacific Heights. The zone covers the filled Marina blocks around Chestnut Street, reaches into parts of Cow Hollow, and crosses Green Street into a few blocks at the northern edge of Pacific Heights, as far south as Vallejo Street near Steiner.
A zone is a mapped trigger for a soils investigation on certain new construction and for a disclosure at sale. It is not a rating of any one building, and a well-documented retrofit on fill can matter more than a hilltop address on an unbolted house. Our San Francisco hazard maps guide covers the lookups.
Housing stock from 1858 to the present
District 7 has a long building record. Planning’s landmark list for the area runs from the Leale House on Pacific Avenue (1858) and the Octagon House on Gough Street (1861) to the Marina Branch Library on Chestnut Street (1953).
- Pacific Heights holds most of the district’s designated landmarks, including the Haas-Lilienthal House, the Whittier, Bourn and Spreckels mansions and the Article 10 Webster Street Historic District.
- Cow Hollow keeps some of the oldest houses, such as the Octagon House and the 1865 Casebolt House, among later Victorians, Edwardians and flats.
- The Marina was built in a short period after the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, so its blocks share an era and a scale.
- Presidio Heights is mostly early-1900s single-family houses on RH-1 blocks.
The Assessor’s 2024 roll, which uses the same subdistrict codes, puts numbers on that range. Single-dwelling parcels run from about 480 in Cow Hollow to about 1,040 in Pacific Heights, while condominium parcels, counted one per unit, outnumber houses everywhere except Presidio Heights. Pacific Heights also has about 200 cooperative units; each of the other three subdistricts has far fewer.
Across the district, a buyer will meet houses, two- and three-unit flats, condominiums, tenancies in common and rental buildings, often on the same block. Our guides to condos and TICs explain how those ownership forms compare.
Zoning, commercial streets and the 2026 rezoning
Each neighborhood has its own commercial street with its own zoning. Planning maps the Union Street NCD in Cow Hollow, the Upper Fillmore NCD in Pacific Heights and the Sacramento Street NCD in Presidio Heights, while Chestnut Street in the Marina is NC-2 and Lombard Street carries NC-3 commercial zoning.
The residential blocks range from RH-1 and RH-1(D) house districts to RM-4 apartment districts. The Family Zoning Plan, effective January 12, 2026, focuses on the city’s western and northern neighborhoods and concentrates added height on major transit and commercial streets; most residential interiors keep existing height limits, and listed historic resources keep their protections.
For an owner, the practical question is parcel-specific: two lots a block apart can sit in different districts. Check the Property Information Map before you price in an addition, a second unit or redevelopment.
Rules that follow the building, not the neighborhood
Three city programs come up repeatedly in District 7 sales because of the age of the buildings:
- Soft-story retrofits, required of older wood-frame apartment buildings (five units or more, three stories or two over a basement) whose permits were applied for before 1978. The Department of Building Inspection names the Marina District among the areas where these buildings are common.
- Rent control for most multifamily buildings built before June 1979, which covers a large share of the district’s flats and apartment buildings.
- Point-of-sale documents, including the 3R report and the energy and water inspection, explained in our San Francisco seller requirements guide.
Transfer tax is the other big line item. San Francisco charges one rate on the whole price by tier, The rate is $3.75 per $500 from $1 million to just under $5 million, then $11.25 at $5 million, $27.50 at $10 million and $30.00 at $25 million and above; lower rates apply below $1 million. At District 7 price points those tiers matter; see our transfer tax guide.
Getting around District 7
District 7 is served by Muni buses and trolleybuses only; there is no BART or Muni Metro station. The main lines, from SFMTA’s route pages:
- 22 Fillmore from Fillmore and Bay in the Marina, through Cow Hollow and Pacific Heights, 24 hours.
- 30 Stockton along Chestnut Street to North Beach and the Caltrain depot.
- 45 Union/Stockton along Union Street from Lyon and Greenwich.
- 43 Masonic from Fort Mason through the Presidio and along Presidio Avenue.
- 1 California on Sacramento and Clay Streets toward downtown.
- 24 Divisadero on Divisadero and Jackson Streets.
- 49 Van Ness/Mission on Van Ness Avenue, the city’s first bus rapid transit corridor.
Lombard Street and Van Ness Avenue carry U.S. 101 to the Golden Gate Bridge, which puts the Marina and Cow Hollow minutes from Marin by car.
How buyers and sellers compare the four neighborhoods
Buyers rarely search only one District 7 neighborhood. The common pairings are the Marina against Cow Hollow (flat versus sloping, 1920s versus older stock), Cow Hollow against the lower blocks of Pacific Heights (Union Street versus Fillmore Street), and Presidio Heights against the western blocks of Pacific Heights (single-family uniformity versus a wider mix).
For sellers, that means pricing against the right peer group: same ownership form, similar view and parking, similar retrofit and systems history. A district-wide median hides more than it shows here. The market report on this page gives current district figures; use it as the starting point and then narrow to the block.
At the top of the market, buyers in District 7 often look at neighboring areas too, including Sea Cliff and Russian Hill. Our pages on San Francisco luxury homes and selling a luxury home cover marketing and buyer due diligence at that level, and the luxury real estate hub covers the rest of the Bay Area.
Questions people ask
Is SF District 7 the same as Supervisor District 7?
No. District 7 here is the San Francisco Association of Realtors’ MLS search district. The Board of Supervisors has its own eleven supervisorial districts drawn on different lines, so the two numbering systems should never be mixed when you read market data.
Which neighborhoods are in SF District 7?
Four: the Marina (7A), Pacific Heights (7B), Presidio Heights (7C) and Cow Hollow (7D).
Is Lower Pacific Heights in District 7?
No. The MLS places Lower Pacific Heights, south of California Street, in District 6 as subdistrict 6C.
Which parts of District 7 are in a liquefaction zone?
Planning’s map of the state zones covers the filled Marina blocks, reaches into parts of Cow Hollow and touches a few blocks at the northern edge of Pacific Heights near Green, Steiner and Vallejo Streets. It shows none in Presidio Heights or across the rest of Pacific Heights. Always check the specific parcel.
Are District 7 apartment buildings rent-controlled?
Most multifamily buildings built before June 1979 are under the Rent Ordinance, and much of District 7’s multi-unit stock is older than that. Each unit’s status still has to be checked against its lease history.
Is there BART or Muni Metro in District 7?
No. The district is served by Muni bus and trolleybus lines and by Van Ness Avenue’s bus rapid transit lanes on its eastern edge.
What does the 2026 Family Zoning Plan mean here?
It mainly affects corridor parcels on major transit and commercial streets, where taller housing is now possible. Most interior residential blocks keep their height limits; check the parcel.
Which District 7 neighborhood has the most landmarks?
Pacific Heights, by a wide margin, according to Planning’s landmark list; Cow Hollow has several of the oldest.
If you own in District 7 and want to know how your property compares, request a home valuation, or read our San Francisco real estate guide for the rest of the city.
Sources & notes
- DataSF: Assessor Historical Secured Property Tax Rolls, 2024 closed roll, parcel counts by property class for assessor neighborhoods 7A-7D
- San Francisco Association of Realtors: SFAR San Francisco MLS district map (via Reineck & Reineck)
- San Francisco Planning: PlanningData map service (zoning districts, landmarks, Article 10 districts, seismic hazard zones)
- U.S. Geological Survey: Professional Paper 1551-F, The Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989: Marina District (1992)
- California Geological Survey: Seismic Hazards Program
- San Francisco Planning: SF Family Zoning Plan
- San Francisco Department of Building Inspection: Mandatory Soft Story Program
- City and County of San Francisco: Transfer tax
- SFMTA: 22 Fillmore route
- SFMTA: 30 Stockton route
- SFMTA: 45 Union/Stockton route
- SFMTA: 43 Masonic route
- SFMTA: 1 California route
- SFMTA: 24 Divisadero route
- SFMTA: 49 Van Ness/Mission route (links the Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit project)
- Wikipedia: Cow Hollow, San Francisco (boundaries and name; used for background only)
Last reviewed October 2026 by Matthew Martinez.
