The listing for a newly restored three-bedroom home in San Francisco's Duboce Triangle neatly captures the city's AI-fueled real estate frenzy in one line: "Anthropic or OpenAI stock will be considered as payments."
It has been less than 24 hours since the offer went live, and the listing agent, Rachel Swann, told Business Insider she has been flooded with interest.
"My phone has been blowing up," Swann said. "It seems to be something that's very exciting for people."
San Francisco real estate and stock in the hottest AI companies have one thing in common: high demand and low supply, which naturally drives up prices.
The 2,495-square-foot Duboce Triangle home is asking $2,995,000. It offers a slew of luxurious amenities, including 10-foot ceilings, custom cabinetry, remote-controlled solar skylights, and a deep-soaking tub, but the listing leads with an offer that could only happen in 2026 San Francisco —the offer of accepting stock in two of the most valuable AI companies on the planet.
The seller is a local "high-end luxury developer" who is a big believer in Anthropic and OpenAI, according to Swann.
Swann says they got the idea after seeing a wave of OpenAI and Anthropic employees and investors come to open houses who have "nowhere to live" because the housing supply is so tight and all their wealth is tied up in illiquid stock.
"It's a perfect storm," she said. "You wouldn't believe how many people I see come through who say, 'We can't touch our stock quite yet, but we would love to buy something.'"
This is not the first Bay Area house to ask for stock in AI companies.
Last month, Storm Duncan, a tech banker, offered his $4.8 million Marin County estate in exchange for shares in Anthropic. He told Business Insider he received multiple offers, including some from Anthropic employees.
In contrast to the anemic national housing market, San Francisco home prices have skyrocketed 19% year over year, driven by a surge in AI valuations. On average, homes sell after 14 days on the market, compared to 20 days last year, according to Zillow data. Tales abound about buyers being flooded with multiple offers and houses going for significantly over their listing prices.
Rental prices are rising by more than 21%, with the average one-bedroom apartment costing $4,000 a month, according to Zumper.
As OpenAI and Anthropic prepare to go public, housing prices are expected to soar further as employees and early investors cash out and buy homes with their riches.
"There's probably a decent number of people who are sitting in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco even though they're earning $400,000 a year and are worth a $100 million," Duncan told Business Insider a few weeks ago. "But they can't access that because their stock is so illiquid, so this gives them an opportunity to diversify."
The listing for Duncan's house has since been removed. Asked for comment, Duncan texted: "Can't talk about it. Apologies."
Swann says she is hoping to have all offers for the Duboce Triangle house in hand next week.
"If somebody can buy something before they realize their paper wealth, why not?" she said. "People create things that have only been in their dreams all the time in San Francisco, so why not do it with real estate?"
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I'm a senior correspondent at Business Insider, where I investigate the tech industry with a focus on venture capital and startups.I can also frequently be seen on CNN, NBC News, CBS News, and other channels providing analysis on a range of business and economic topics. Please get in touch if you have a story to tell securely on Signal. Here are some examples of stories I've written:
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Here is a little more about me: Before I joined Insider, I was a senior reporter at dot.LA and produced two investigative documentaries for public television, one of which won first place in the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club investigation category. The judges called it "in-depth and informative reporting at its best."I spent the 2017-2018 academic year at Columbia Business School as a Knight-Bagehot fellow in economic and business journalism taking MBA-level courses in corporate finance, financial accounting, and corporate strategy. After that, I oversaw development of The Journal, a daily podcast produced by The Wall Street Journal and Gimlet Media.Previously, I was a senior reporter and host at KPCC/Southern California Public Radio, where I covered business and economics. I was frequently heard nationally on NPR and Marketplace, and often hosted KPCC's daily two-hour newsmagazine, Take Two, as well as Morning Edition and major breaking news coverage. In addition, I moderated business/economic-focused live events for KPCC, the Milken Institute and RAND Corporation.Before joining KPCC, I was a producer for NPR's Morning Edition based in Washington D.C. and then Culver City, CA. I have also written for The New York Times and Columbia Journalism Review and was a reporting intern at The Times.Originally from Seattle, I graduated cum laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles with a degree in politics.In my free time, I love skiing, tennis, and poker (I competed in the 2024 World Series of Poker Main Event but sadly did not win).
