‘Absolutely bananas’: San Francisco homes sell for $1m above asking price amid AI boom

Report finds widespread overbidding as rapid AI growth generates increased wealth in city where housing is scarce San Francisco’s AI boom has buyers spending unprecedented amounts of money on homes – much more than sellers are asking for. A new analysis from real-estate brokerage Compass, found that in the first half of 2026, more than 140 homes in the city sold for at least $1m above their asking price, 44 of them in June alone. The figure is a huge jump from January through July of last year, in which only eight homes sold for more than $1m, according to Compass data. Just six homes sold above that amount in the first six months of 2024. The skyrocketing demand for homes in this price range is “absolutely BANANAS”, according to Mike Simonsen, Compass’s chief economist. Simonsen has previously explained that the widespread overbidding was “of course related to the AI boom. It’s migration and hiring, as well as preparing for mega IPOs.” OpenAI and Anthropic, both headquartered in San Francisco, have filed to go public on the US stock market at valuations approaching $1tn. Their debuts promise to mint a new class of multimillionaires in San Francisco, which is alread