The San Francisco housing market spent much of the last two years seemingly stuck in the mud. Real estate agents lamented that homes that once sparked bidding wars were going unsold for a month or longer.
But not anymore. San Francisco homes are selling faster than they have in years — faster, in fact, than almost any of the 25 most-populous cities in the U.S. The median home sold in September found a buyer after just three weeks on the market. That’s more than a month faster than the national figure of 51 days.
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San Francisco stands out sharply from other large U.S. cities, where prospective buyers appear reluctant to place bids amid a struggling job market and high mortgage rates. But the rise of artificial intelligence companies in San Francisco has brought a wave of workers flush with cash. The AI boom has already caused rentals to fly off the market, while home sellers — who were already resistant to cutting prices — now have even less reason to soften their expectations.
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That hasn’t yet translated to a surge in prices, which took a tumble during the pandemic as many buyers left for outer Bay Area suburbs. But that could change. San Francisco home sales have seen a major jump this fall while listings dipped, a sign that prices could soon start to climb, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Redfin.
“The market had been in an ice age the past couple of years, but this autumn we saw our first signs of the big thaw,” said Arrian Binnings, a San Francisco real estate agent with Christie’s International Real Estate…