Posted on 07/05/2026 5:42:28 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Buyers, beware. The San Francisco real estate scene, one that’s historically presented an uphill battle for buyers, has tilted toward all-out war. The catalyst is the artificial intelligence boom, a phenomenon generating new jobs, new wealth and unprecedented demand for housing in the Bay Area. Rents are up, homes are selling faster, prices are rising, and overbids (and we mean way over) have gone bananas. Only the wealthiest, most intrepid, most determined buyers will succeed in such a market.
According to a June 2026 report released by Compass Real Estate, the AI boom has affected virtually every aspect of the real estate market. In San Francisco, single-family home prices are up 17% year over year, and the median selling price has increased from $1.7 million to $2.2 million. Homes are also selling at their “fastest pace in five years,” across the wider Bay Area, per Compass data: In San Francisco, homes are selling in 18 days; in Santa Clara County, they shoot off the market in just 10.
Even condos, which for the past six years had struggled in terms of both sale prices and volume and sales, are now surging in popularity. The median sale price for condos in the Bay Area is up 3%, and closed transactions are up 14% as of June.
Putting pressure on the market are two additional factors. The first is that rents are skyrocketing in San Francisco and the South Bay, outpacing other cities across the nation and world. Meanwhile, inventory for potential buyers remains stubbornly insufficient, down about 45% in the city.
Chief economist for Compass International Holdings Mike Simonsen explained that this is a very local phenomenon in Compass’ June 2026 Monthly Market Intelligence Report. The AI boom is shaping...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The Indian workers will right at home in SF with the open defecation.
Folks are paying a lot of money to have junkies shit on their porch.
I just sold my home in the SLC area. Day one, full price offer. Yay.
Hard to believe humans will want to put up with the negatives of the Bay Area.
If they’re buying in SF, they’re idiots.
I’ve lived in the South Bay / Silicon Valley since 1978. Seen so many boom cycles:
* Tail end of the military / defense years
* Hewlett Packard
* Semiconductors
* Genomics
* Rise of Apple & PCs
* Networking
* Optical communications
* Internet boom
* AI boom
Real estate always booms, settles back 10-20% and booms again. Every boom we’ve always said “This can’t go on.” Yet it always does.
SLC??
Saw a comment somewhere online that they lived in SF and their town was entirely homosexual.
Correct. Homo central. Last time we visited in 2018 we saw several me. Openly masturbating. Not homeless but well dressed men. One did so right I. Front of the window at Ghirardelli’s Chocolate on the Wharf! Locals just ignored it and cops just laughed. San Fran needs to be nuked out of existence. Sick place.
I am in IT, got laid off in April in Phoenix. I have been open to relocate (will send money back to family). I have applied for several jobs in Bay Area, but no takers so far. There are jobs, but market is moving slowly and carefully.
the number of American workers who can afford anything remotely near those prices is miniscule.
allowing for a handful of AI or computer industry or biotech industry OWNERS or top-tier managers and some (not all) medical doctors, etc..... what the article does not seem to include is the huge impact of foreign capital flooding into San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area real estate. It is massive and has been pushing realty prices up for many years. Largely from Communist China.
This is why a lot of SF’er are moving to NYC, which is CHEAP by comparison.
I went to a rehearsal dinner in Pacific Heights about twenty years ago.
I asked the cab driver how people paid $15 million for those houses.
“Easy”, he said. “They sell drugs and have sex with each other for money”.
“It is massive and has been pushing realty prices up for many years. Largely from Communist China.”
South Vancouver, in other words. Unbelievable as it seems, Canada may turn into a real problem.
They come in from India and have no clue what garbage collection is so they take their trash out to woods , fields ,rivers and streams then dump their trash like they were back in India
“South Vancouver, in other words. Unbelievable as it seems, Canada may turn into a real problem.”
It’s my understanding that a Canadian court said the land probably belongs to a Canadian First Nations tribe.
“I have applied for several jobs in Bay Area, but no takers so far.”
It was my belief about four decades ago that Bay Area companies would not waste their time with applicants who didn’t live in the area because the companies feared outsiders would refuse to live in an extraordinarily high housing price area.
Hopefully, you have a relative in the Bay Area you can stay with while applying.
Nope. Have never been to California. ALL applications are done remote these days. Even local employers use Zoom and Teams exclusively.
Job hunting has progressed like video games.
At first, there was Pong. Move the paddle to hit the ball. If you don’t miss, you are generally okay.
Then, there was Space Invaders. Your one ship against a phlanx of aliens dropping from the sky. You have to hit a whole lot of them, but you have adequate fire power.
Then, Asteroids. Rocks and spaced ships coming from all directions. However, you can fire bursts of four shots at a time, and you can move in all directions at varying speed.
Robotron: 2084, a fixed screen where you can move and fire in all directions simultaneously, but a huge army of enemies trying to touch you, which means instant death.
In short, as your firepower (personal computers, Internet, job sites) greatly increases the reach of your firepower (applications), the incentive and ability of would be employers to weed you out increases at the same rate or more.
I, too, am searching for my last permanent role.
I am past the magic age of retirement.
LoL, nobody seems to want a two page hardcopy resume.
They seem to run soft copies through an AI scan. AI does not (??) care how much content and demonstrated success’s you load into a resume.
Lot’s of Teams and Zoom meetings.
One hiring manager asked if he could add a third to our meeting, to listen and take notes.
I thought he was adding a junior HR person.
Nope, in comes a AI on its own line to record our meeting and take notes.
It’s a strange new world!
Final note. I sense a lot of apprehension and ambiguity. Employer’s are looking for unicorns or do not know how the future will unfold.
I see too many job descriptions posted and reposted many times. The client retains one headhunter, then another, then uses internal HR, and the role is not filled....
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