San Francisco’s Luxury Housing Market Is Booming Again Thanks to AI Wealth
A new report from Sotheby’s International Realty says the top end of the market has undergone a renaissance.
The Alamo Square neighborhood in San Francisco.
Photographer: Alexander Spatari/Getty ImagesIt wasn’t so long ago that headlines proclaimed San Francisco to be “dead” or in a “doom loop.” But the city is now undergoing a major renaissance in its luxury housing market, according to the Sotheby’s International Realty 2025 Mid-Year Luxury Outlook report, shared exclusively with Bloomberg Pursuits before its publication.
“San Francisco became a magnetic location really quickly because if an entrepreneur or a tech investor was saying, ‘OK, I want to make a bet in AI,’ they were deciding they needed to do it in San Francisco and in the Bay Area for access to the labor pool with that technical expertise,” says Bradley Nelson, the company’s chief marketing officer, who spearheaded the report. Nelson says more homes sold above $20 million in San Francisco in 2024 than in any other year in history. Notable sales included Laurene Powell Jobs’ around $70 million purchase on Billionaire’s Row in Pacific Heights.