'Absolutely bananas': San Francisco homes sell for $1m above asking price amid AI boom
More than 140 homes in San Francisco sold for at least $1 million above asking price in the first half of 2026, driven by the AI boom and pending IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic.
San Francisco’s housing market is experiencing a dramatic surge, with buyers paying unprecedented premiums over asking prices, according to a new analysis from real estate brokerage Compass. In the first six months of 2026, over 140 homes in the city sold for at least $1 million above their listing price, with 44 of those sales occurring in June alone.
This marks a huge increase from the same period last year, when only eight homes sold for that much above asking, and just six in the first half of 2024. Compass chief economist Mike Simonsen described the demand as "absolutely bananas" and attributed it directly to the AI boom, including migration, hiring, and preparations for mega IPOs.
OpenAI and Anthropic, both headquartered in San Francisco, have filed to go public at valuations approaching $1 trillion. Their stock market debuts are expected to create a new class of multimillionaires in a city that already has the highest concentration of billionaires per capita in the world.
Single-family home prices in San Francisco have risen about 17% year-over-year, while inventory has plunged by roughly 45%, according to Compass’s market report. The median home price has jumped from $1.7 million to $2.2 million, and homes are selling in an average of 18 days — the fastest pace in five years.
This boom contrasts sharply with a slump just a few years ago, when departures and concerns about crime and homelessness weighed on the market. The report notes that demand is currently concentrated in a small section of the city and in luxury markets in the Peninsula and Marin County. Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather noted that unlike previous tech booms, the benefits of AI appear much more concentrated.
