Where The Tech Money Lives in San Francisco

San Francisco has the highest concentration of billionaires in the entire country, even more billionaires per capita than New York City. Makes sense when San Francisco's history is built on the backbones of railroad barons, mining tycoons, clothing magnates, and other industrialists whose wealth traces back generations. But obviously San Francisco is not just old money. The dramatic turnaround we've experienced in San Francisco over the past 18 months is once again being fueled by a resurgence of tech, and in particular, the dominance of AI and a return of substantial VC investment into companies based in the area. And that influx of new money is minting millionaires and billionaires left and right, and they're snatching up real estate in San Francisco. In fact, as of March 2026, we've reached the highest monthly count of home sales of at least $5 million, eclipsing the pandemic peak of June of 2021. This is Austin Klar, your lawyer turned real estate agent in San Francisco, and in this video, I'm breaking down where that new money is buying up real estate in the city. A mix of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city with architectural pedigree tracing back more than a century to neighborhoods that just arose in the last 20 to 30 years. We'll go through what day-to-day life is like in each, what home types are in the area, how much they cost, and why they are hotspots for the newly minted in San Francisco. So let's get right to it and start with the Yerba Buena and South Beach neighborhoods. Yerba Buena and South Beach are located south of Market Street and east of SoMa, hugging the eastern waterfront along the Embarcadero, and together they form the city's most contemporary, vertical, amenity-rich stretch of real estate and act as a bridge between the financial district to the north and the AI hub of Mission Bay to the south. The area has some of the best weather we experience in San Francisco because it's much farther away from the Pacific Ocean. So those cold and fog fronts coming in from the ocean don't make it across the city into Yerba Buena and South Beach. And since those two areas were built on fill, they're relatively flat, which when you combine it with, you know, the better than average weather makes for a very walkable day-to-day experience living there. It is also steps to transit hubs like Caltrain, BART, and the Transbay Terminal, So it is a lot easier to live in those two neighborhoods without a car, and that makes it a dream location for a lot of people who want to live close to their work and live in a modern building. Most of the housing stock was built in the past 30 years as part of a massive downtown redevelopment. So you'll see a lot of glass-clad amenity-rich buildings designed for professionals and downsizers who want urban convenience and big views. Places like the Avery, The Lumina, the Harrison, Millennium Tower, 181 Fremont. All of them have like concierge services, lounge spaces, residence clubs, valet parking. Some of them have pools and movie theaters, you name it. You'll also find a mix of mid-rise buildings and adaptive reuse buildings, you know, buildings that used to be warehouses that were converted into loft spaces, a lot of brick and timber type construction. These two areas are as close as you can live to the city center. They are true epicenters of downtown life. They're steps from Salesforce Tower. UCSF, Chase Center, Oracle Park, walking distance to the Financial District, to Moscone Center, to the Ferry Building. And because these neighborhoods are traditionally more dependent on office presence and have less outdoor space than people might be looking for and less overall space than people might be looking for, demand took a huge hit once the pandemic really took off. And that severe drop in demand caused home prices there to fall pretty dramatically. These are, you know, two areas in the city, two of the few areas in the city where in our current, like, extremely competitive real estate market, you can still get homes, or I guess condos really, for, you know, prices that we saw 7, 10, or even more years ago. I don't think that's gonna last for very long. We're seeing a clear resurgence in the area from return to office, from the AI boom, from all VC investment going on in the area. I'm personally working with multiple clients that are looking in several of these buildings once again that, you know, wouldn't even be considered, you know, 3 years ago. So as city conditions continue to improve and as the tech boom we're experiencing continues continues to move forward, I think we're going to see continued uptick in demand in these neighborhoods, but pricing is still depressed. One of my favorite buildings in the neighborhood, The Avery, has been one of the biggest benefactors of that return in demand. They've had over a dozen condos trade to start the year, way above numbers they'd seen in similar periods during the pandemic. One-bedroom units there range in the mid-$1 million range, and penthouse units there go north of $10 million. So there's a huge span of available property there, and there aren't really new luxury condo buildings being built in the area right now. So the uptick in supply that we saw toward the lead up to the pandemic in 2018 and '19 that helped cause pricing to fall as demand fell isn't happening right now. Inventory is actually falling there compared to what we saw in prior years, and that's causing price stabilization and moderate appreciation depending on what building you're looking at compared to, you know, past several years of declines. I've got an entire video dedicated to the history of these neighborhoods and what happened with pricing there. I'll link it in the description below. If you're interested, go check it out. And if you like videos about San San Francisco real estate lifestyle, current events, new developments, or its incredible history, subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. And if you're thinking about relocating and have questions about what all these broader changes mean for the local market that you're looking at in San Francisco, reach out to me. I was a lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in the world before getting into real estate. I've helped numerous people relocate here from all over the country. Be happy to be a resource for you. I'll put my contact info in the description below. Reach out anytime. Now back to the neighborhoods where young money are setting down their roots. And this next one is probably the fastest-changing neighborhood in all of San Francisco, driven largely by the AI boom and several massive redevelopment projects happening in the area, and that's Mission Bay. There's no neighborhood in San Francisco undergoing more change right now than Mission Bay along the city's central waterfront. Its origins were mostly industrial and as a transit corridor, given its position right next to the water. But starting in the late 20th century, the area began to transform into a destination for people to spend more of their free time and even set down roots. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] from a brand new arena at Chase Center and its surrounding food and retail offerings at Thrive City, and some of the largest mixed-use developments in San Francisco's history at the Rail Yard, Mission Rock, Pier 70, and the Potrero Power Station, to some of the largest office leases in San Francisco in recent years from major players in AI, most notably OpenAI and Visa. Mission Bay is at the forefront of San Francisco's future, and if it's anything like what's already opening in the area, the future looks very bright for Mission Bay. And it's all that excitement and that tech proximity that is driving, you know, younger professionals, especially in tech, to invest in real estate there. It's very close to both the 80 and 280 highways as well as Caltrain. So it is really convenient for those who need to travel to the South Bay for work or to get to either SFO or Oakland airports if, you know, you're going away for a work trip or vacation. And because it's one of the newer neighborhoods in San Francisco, most of the housing stock is very new by San Francisco standards. A lot of modern condos and converted loft spaces and glass-clad buildings, a lot more low-rise than what you would see in like the Yerba Buena area, more akin to South Beach, but newer than South Beach. So people looking for a place to live that isn't directly in downtown San Francisco or SoMa, but want something newer with amenities like a doorman, gym, a rooftop, lounges, that sort of stuff. Mission Bay is becoming a go-to destination, and housing there for modern units is relatively inexpensive compared to other similar units in different neighborhoods. The average condo there over the past year was just under $1.2 million, around $1,100 a foot. The most expensive one sold in the last year was about $2.25 $5 million. So compared to a lot of other neighborhoods that I'm going to talk about later in this video, it is far and away one of the most affordable. And that combined with the convenience that it offers and the proximity to all the new businesses that are opening in San Francisco, especially in the AI space and tech space, it's a no-brainer for a lot of people, especially younger people looking to invest. The next neighborhood on my list is also a popular destination for the newly minted, but less so for the younger, you know, single professionals. It's much more family-oriented, and that's Noe Valley. If you want to understand where young money is setting down roots in San Francisco, Noe Valley needs to be a part of the conversation, and you're at the very top of the list. And it's because the neighborhood checks a very specific set of boxes that are really hard to find all in one neighborhood in the city. It has charm, it has weather, it has great architecture, it has beautiful tree-lined streets, and has a real neighborhood-feeling commercial corridor. It feels distinctly San Francisco without some of the tradeoffs of some other higher-end more expensive neighborhoods. And to be clear, Noe is very high-end, but there's still other neighborhoods that are more expensive than Noe today. A lot of young buyers I work with who have a ton of money want a home that feels special. They want the period details, the proportions, and the views. And you have that in spades in Noe Valley. Gorgeous Victorians, Edwardians, Craftsmans, and you also have a lot of moderns too for people who want them. And a lot of these older homes have been updated, so you get kind of the historic look on the outside with a totally different clean modern look on the inside. Then there's the weather there. And in San Francisco, that's not a small thing. It is a huge influence on day-to-day life. And Noe Valley, nobody could reasonably debate, has some of the best weather in San Francisco. Noe Valley sits in the city's sunnier southeastern quadrant, sheltered in part by the hills and by the city's topography. So on average, it trends warmer than other similarly affluent neighborhoods like like Pac Heights, Presidio Heights, Seacliff, Lake Street, St. Francis Wood, etc. And it's great that the weather is nice because Noe has some incredible amenities, ways to spend time outdoors, a small but robust commercial corridor along 24th Street, and multiple incredible parks with big views. And when you add the relatively easy commute on top of that, it basically checks every box. It's easy to get to downtown on public transit or by car. It's closer to 280 and 101 than similarly priced amenity-rich neighborhoods on the opposite side of the city. A lot of young buyers in San Francisco don't live purely San Francisco lives. A lot of their world is split. Maybe their office is in downtown San Francisco, but the company's actually headquartered in the South Bay in like Menlo Park or Cupertino or Palo Alto, wherever it may be, and they split time between the two places. Or maybe they want to live in San Francisco to be closer to the action, but commute to work altogether into the South Bay. Maybe they're an investor who's all over the place, or maybe one of them works downtown and their spouse works in the South Bay. You can keep the city lifestyle. You can keep the great house, you can keep the neighborhood feel, you can keep the restaurants, you can keep the walkability, and still have a more rational launching point for commuting south than you would for some of the other more northern prestige neighborhoods. Unfortunately for a lot of buyers today, Noe Valley has become one of the fastest appreciating places in the entire city, and it was already expensive before that started happening. The average price per foot of single-family homes in Noe Valley is up 22% so far this year compared to the same time last year. Average sale prices are up astounding 38%, and median sale prices are up 23%. And those homes are selling in just about a week on the market. So the Noe Valley market in particular is especially competitive and crazy fast. It has become far and away one of the most competitive neighborhoods in the entire city, and it's not surprising when it checks all those boxes that I talked about. On the opposite end of the competitive spectrum is a neighborhood like Jackson Square. There isn't a whole lot of housing stock in Jackson Square. It is mainly office space or retail or restaurants, but there are some higher-end condo buildings buildings in the area that, like those in Yerba Buena and South Beach, saw very serious price declines during the pandemic. But just like Yerba Buena and South Beach, they are starting to slowly come back to life. Jackson Square is a very small neighborhood on the northeast side of San Francisco, just north of the Financial District, and its proximity to the Financial District is what's driving a lot of the more recent change we're seeing from a residential perspective there. As newer, higher-end office spaces get built and new companies lease up that office space, a lot of younger professionals who are working at these companies in particular are now looking more to Jackson Square as a potential place to land. And that makes sense because it is easily one of the most convenient places to live in the entire city. Walkable to the Financial District and the rest of downtown, walkable to SoMo, walkable to the Embarcadero and the Ferry Building, to Union Square, to Chinatown, to North Beach, to the North Waterfront. It's got so much to offer in an immediately surrounding area. There's a great mix of high-end luxury boutiques, A-plus Michelin-level food, multiple members-only social clubs, and quintessential San Francisco architecture from from its days as a Gold Rush era warehousing center. There are multiple parks within walking distance. I mean, it really is one of the few neighborhoods in San Francisco where I think depending on your lifestyle, you can honestly get by without a car. And all of those factors have made it increasingly more attractive, especially to younger buyers. On average, condos there cost just shy of $2 million, a little over $1,200 a foot. But in some of the higher-end buildings there, like 288 Pacific, which is one of the best designed buildings in the city, in my opinion, 2 bedrooms will start around $1,600 a foot and run closer to $2,000 a foot depending on, you know, if they're on a higher floor or if they have any views or outdoor space. So it's definitely not cheap to live there, but it's a lot cheaper today than it was pre-pandemic. But I don't know how much longer that's going to last for. The next neighborhood on my list is as much a haven for new money as it is for old money, and that's Pacific Heights. After most of Nob Hill was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fires, the wealthy industrial tycoons decided to rebuild their lavish mansions at the peak of Pacific Heights on what has become today's Billionaires Row, or Gold Coast, and the broader neighborhood has been home to generational wealth ever since. But today it is much a destination for the newly minted, but super rich newly minted, as it is for that old money. There's perhaps no other neighborhood in San Francisco that more perfectly blends that San Francisco essence with the modern luxuries that a lot of younger buyers in tech and law and finance all want. No matter where you live in the area, you're walking distance to one of 3 incredible parks The Presidio, Alta Plaza Park, or Lafayette Park. No matter where you live in the area, you're walking distance to one of three incredible commercial corridors: Fillmore Street, Sacramento Street, or Union Street, each with their own mix of shops and restaurants. And in Fillmore and Union Street's case, actual nightlife. And when you combine all that with its relative central location in the city, you know, 10 minutes to downtown, 5 minutes to the Golden Gate Bridge, 20 to 25 minutes if there's no traffic to Caltrain, it makes a great option for people who need to commute out of the city be at least a few days a week, but not necessarily everyday commuters. I've got a ton of videos on my channel about Pacific Heights, what it's like to live there, how much homes cost there, walking tours, comparisons of different subparts of Pac Heights, you name it, all of it based on my experience having lived here for the past 6 years and helping people buy and sell all over the neighborhood. I'll link a few of them in the description below if you're interested. Go check them out. It is by far one of the most expensive places to purchase real estate in the city. The average cost of single-family homes is almost $7.7 million. Over $1,700 a foot, with most turnkey homes in the past couple of months trading well north of $2,000 a foot. Just recently, the most expensive home to trade in San Francisco in the past 2 years just sold for $56 million, you know, almost $4,000 a foot. The record is held by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, and she bought a $71 million house on Billionaires Row in Pacific Heights in 2024. And it's not just single-family homes. Condos and co-ops in Pac Heights sold on average for about $2.5 million over the past year, over $1,350 a foot, with turnkey pieces trading closer to $1,600+ a foot over the past couple of months. And the most expensive trade was a $24 million co-op on top of one of the most sought-after buildings in San Francisco that sold for over $4,000 a foot. So it is incredibly expensive and it's getting even more expensive. So it's really hard to break into. And so is the next neighborhood on my list, Russian Hill. The neighborhood got its name when Gold Rush era settlers discovered a cemetery at the top of the hill. That cemetery was removed moved to make way for some of the earliest homes in the neighborhood. And over time, it's been home to many prominent lawyers, authors, philanthropists, architects, politicians, but it remains a go-to destination for new money in the city as well. Despite being on a gigantic hill, it is actually relatively walkable because it's relatively small. Everything is very densely packed. So no matter where you live in the area, you're not that far from potential places that you might want to go. You're immediately abutting North Beach to the east, Pacific Heights to the west, Nob Hill to the south. There's so much around Russian Hill as well, not just in Russian Hill, that offer a ton of things to do. Within Russian Hill itself, you've got great stretches of bars and restaurants on Polk and Hyde Streets. You've got great parks like Ina Coolbrith, which offers incredible views of downtown. You've got Alice Marble, which has tennis and basketball courts with views of the bay. You've got Francisco Park, which has a dog park and open green space, as well as a children's play area. The area is home to the curvy stretch of Lombard Street, street, so it is a frequent destination for tourists. The San Francisco Art Institute, which is in the middle of a major renovation backed by a nonprofit owned by Laurene Powell Jobs, is also in the neighborhood. Russian Hill actually has a Billionaires' Row of its own along Francisco Street between Hyde and Leavenworth. These are spectacular homes, including some of the oldest standing homes in all of San Francisco, with unobstructed north-facing views. And what makes it especially great for both the newly minted and old money like in law, tech, and finance and other industries is that it's really close to downtown. Just a few minutes' drive to get to downtown, or if you're brave enough to face the hill, you know, a 20 to 30 minute walk depending on where you live in the neighborhood. So it is a very convenient place to live if you have an office-based job in the city. And while it's not expensive as comparable homes in places like Pac Heights, it will still cost you a lot of money to live there. The average cost of a single family home in Russian Hill will run you over $4 million, nearly $1,400 a foot foot, with the most expensive recently trading for over $2,500 a foot. And condos and co-ops there are likewise expensive, having traded on average for about $1.9 million over the past year, about $1,350 a foot, going all the way up to nearly $3,500 a foot in higher-end view buildings. And the last neighborhood I want to talk about today, a destination for the newly minted, is on the North Waterfront of San Francisco, and it's the Marina. Not only do you get gorgeous classic San Francisco architecture,, but you have a completely flat neighborhood on one of the most walkable stretches the entire city, mild weather by San Francisco standards, easy access to beautiful open green spaces along the North Waterfront, and incredible food and nightlife. Crissy Field and Marina Green are at your doorstep, great places for exercise, great places for picnics, great places for kids. There are a ton of events that are held there. You also have park space by the Palace of Fine Arts. You've got Fort Mason. You have all the food shops and bars along Chestnut Street. There are a good number of bars and restaurants in the area, so it does stay busy into the meetings on Chestnut and its offshoots, but as you get deeper into the neighborhood, it does get substantially quieter. So you can have a good retreat from the craziness, but still be steps from the action if you want to be out and about. A lot of the streets are narrower, so it can be tougher to park there comfortably. I definitely recommend if you are buying something in the Marina to buy a place that has parking or have parking secured. It is quite walkable, so maybe for your day-to-day, you might not need a car, but if you're going to downtown or you need to commute to the South Bay or to the North Bay,, then you're definitely going to want to have a car and you're going to want parking. It is not the most heavily traded neighborhood, at least from a single-family home standpoint. So it is more competitive and it's tougher to break into. About 2 dozen single families have traded there in the past year and they sold for an average of almost $5.2 million, over $1,600 a foot. And at the upper end, you know, close to $10 million, well north of $2,000 a foot. For context, over 120 single-family homes traded in Noe Valley over the past year. So about 5 times as much as trading in the Marina. So it really is a lot harder to find single-family inventory there, and when it does come on, it is very competitive. Condos are similarly pricey, averaging close to $2 million over $1,300 a foot, but reaching all the way up to almost $5 million and nearly $2,000 a foot for places with views, private outdoor space, parking, etc. Well, there you have it. Those are some of the most sought-after neighborhoods by the newly minted in San Francisco. There are so many other neighborhoods that might make good fits for you, and a lot of these might be terrible fits for you. There are over 80 different neighborhoods in San Francisco, each of them vastly different from each other. So if you want more information about any of these or any other neighborhoods in San Francisco and what might work for you and what's happening there in light of everything going on in the broader San Francisco, reach out to me. I've lived in this city for over 13 years. I've helped numerous people relocate here from all over the country. I'd be happy to be a resource for you. I'll put my contact info in the description below. Reach out anytime. And remember, if you like videos about San Francisco real estate, lifestyle, current events, new development, or its incredible history, subscribe to my channel because I make videos about that stuff every single week. And before you go, if you want to learn more about where the old money lives in San Francisco, I'll link a video I made on that in the description below. Go check it out. I hope you enjoy the video and I'll see you in the next one. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]