A fresh wave of tech wealth tied to artificial-intelligence companies is igniting San Francisco’s housing market. With OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX preparing potential stock market debuts—and employees already cashing out billions via tender offers—buyers are piling into a supply-constrained market. The median San Francisco home sold for more than $2 million in March, up 18% from a year earlier, while days on market fell to 29, the fastest since spring 2022, according to Compass. Agents report intensified competition for $5 million-plus listings as AI workers seek to “get in before the IPO money hits.” Rents are also surging, with one-bedrooms averaging $4,000 and two-bedrooms $5,500, per Zumper, with downtown, SoMa, Mission Bay, Pacific Heights and Hayes Valley seeing some of the sharpest increases. Policymakers are pushing rezoning to boost multi-unit construction, but inventory remains tight. Economists caution that AI’s profitability is unproven and that past booms—like the dot-com era—were followed by housing corrections.
