San Francisco-area luxury home sales jumped 39.3% in the first half from a year earlier, the sharpest sign that AI-linked wealth is heating the Bay Area housing market despite high rates and prices.
AI companies have boosted pay for executives and engineers, while stock gains and cash-rich buyers let affluent shoppers bid above asking prices and shrug off mortgage costs that sideline many other buyers.
Nationally, luxury home sales rose 2% in January-June and the median luxury price climbed 4.3% to about $1.37 million, outpacing middle-market price growth even as overall existing-home sales remain near 30-year lows.
OpenAI and Anthropic, which filed preliminary IPO paperwork in June, could intensify that pressure: Redfin estimates potential employee windfalls could buy nearly one-third of all homes in San Francisco.
That prospect is already accelerating purchases, with some Bay Area buyers moving now for fear a wave of newly minted AI millionaires will push competition and prices even higher.