A newly renovated three-bedroom apartment in San Francisco's affluent Duboce Triangle neighborhood has recently hit the market for nearly $3 million. What makes this listing unusual, however, is the payment method: the seller is willing to accept shares in prominent artificial intelligence companies, OpenAI or Anthropic, instead of cash.
This unique real estate deal reflects the current state of San Francisco in 2026. The city has become the center of the AI revolution, and the influx of wealthy AI workers is causing local home prices to surge. According to Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at the real estate firm Redfin, buyers in the area are "flush with cash and ready to buy."
In March 2026, San Francisco overtook its southern neighbor, San Jose, to once again become the most expensive city for homebuyers in the United States. During that month, the median house price in San Francisco rose by 19% compared to the previous year. This upward trend continued through April and May, with year-on-year increases of 14.5% and 14.1% respectively. By May 2026, the median sale price in the city reached a record high of $1.76 million. In contrast, the median home price for the country as a whole was just under $400,000, showing a growth of only 2% over the same period.
Industry experts widely agree that AI wealth is the primary driver of this booming market. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, luxury neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area have seen a dramatic jump in housing prices. This surge has reversed the housing downturn experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the city's population declined and property values fell.
Today, top AI professionals in San Francisco command exceptionally high salaries and signing bonuses. In addition, many employees have accumulated substantial wealth through stock options. For example, in October 2025, more than 600 current and former OpenAI employees sold shares worth a combined $6.6 billion, averaging $11 million per person. Similarly, workers at Anthropic recently sold shares totaling around $6 billion. With both companies expected to go public later this year or next, many believe that house prices will continue to climb.
Despite the boom, some economists advise caution. Enrico Moretti, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, notes that it is still very early in the AI cycle. He points out that the city's population and employment levels have not yet fully recovered to their pre-pandemic peaks. Furthermore, recent layoffs at major tech companies like Meta, combined with a potential shift toward hiring less specialized workers as the industry matures, could slow down the market.
For now, however, local real estate agents describe the market as "crazy." Bidding wars are common, often pushing final sale prices millions of dollars above the asking price. Properties are selling faster than ever, and cash offers are increasingly common, particularly at the high end of the market. Combined with a chronic shortage of housing supply, this sudden influx of AI wealth is having an outsized effect on San Francisco's real estate landscape.