San Francisco has once again been named the most expensive city in the United States
The growing demand for AI professionals and the housing shortage are driving property prices to record levels, with properties selling in a flash and new payment methods emerging.
Offering up to a million more than the asking price to secure a property. Paying for it – perhaps in full – in cash to owners who, in some cases, are even willing to consider payments in shares of artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI or Anthropic instead of ‘old-fashioned’ banknotes.
The boom in artificial intelligence and the salaries of those working in the sector – in a market where the supply of homes is dramatically out of step with demand – is driving the residential property market in San Francisco. This phenomenon has been in the spotlight of the international press, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
According to an analysis by the estate agency Compass, in March, prices for detached houses in San Francisco rose by around 18 per cent year-on-year, whilst supply plummeted by around 45 per cent. In absolute terms: the median price of detached houses rose from $1.7 million to $2.2 million, and houses are selling on average within 18 days of being put on the market – the fastest pace in the last five years.
Meanwhile, the median value of flats in block-of-flats has exceeded $1.3 million (a rise of 27 per cent over the past year). And the situation is no better when it comes to rents: an average of $4,000 for a one-bedroom flat; up to $5,500 for a two-bedroom flat.
In this scenario, securing the properties that are on the market becomes a bidding war rather than a negotiation to drive the price down. In the first half of 2026, over 140 homes in the city were sold for at least one million dollars more than the asking price. In fact, according to the property portal Redfin, the overall median sale price in the city reached an all-time high of $1.76 million in May, compared with the US average of nearly $400,000. Thus, San Francisco has regained the title of the most expensive city in the United States, marking a reversal of the trend seen a few years ago, when concerns over crime and homelessness had contributed to the market crisis.
