A guide for AI tech workers, or anyone with company equity, looking to cash in and buy a home in San Francisco.
If you work in AI or tech in San Francisco, you might know the feeling: your net worth looks impressive on paper, but most of it is tied up in company equity. You want to buy a home, but the down payment hurdle is real. Secondary markets—where you can sell private company shares before an IPO—are suddenly on your radar.
Let’s talk about what’s happening in the San Francisco real estate market right now, how secondary markets fit in, and what to consider if you’re thinking about making the leap from equity to homeownership.
The State of the San Francisco Real Estate Market
San Francisco’s real estate market is active, but not uniform.
Single-family homes are still competitive, with limited inventory and strong demand. Bidding wars aren’t rare, especially in established neighborhoods. If you’re set on a house in Noe Valley or Bernal Heights, expect competition.
Condos, though, are a different story. Urban condo prices—especially in SoMa, South Beach, and downtown—haven’t fully bounced back from the pandemic. Remote work and the initial exodus out of the city left a mark. But things are shifting. Companies are calling people back to the office, and workers are returning. Recent data shows in-office work is on the rise again. If you ever wished you’d bought a condo in 2015, this is the closest the market has come to a reset in years.
San Francisco Condo Median Prices (3-month rolling average)
Are you looking to buy a luxury home or sell your exclusive property? Our top real estate team specializes in luxury condos, estates, and high-end properties. With years of experience navigating the competitive luxury real estate market, we offer personalized guidance every step of the way.
Contact us today for a complimentary consultation. Whether you’re looking for luxury homes for sale or need help listing your exclusive property, our top-rated realtors are here to help. Find your dream home or achieve your sales goals with the best real estate agents!
Stay informed with our twice-monthly email updates, featuring market insights, new listings, and local news. Subscribe to receive the latest in San Francisco luxury real estate and more. We respect your privacy and never share your information.
Probably not. Yet, in our biased opinion, you should definitely sign up for our twice-monthly email for market insights, webinar invites, local news, gorgeous homes, and more. We never share or sell your information. And, when you’re ready to work with us, please email or call to discuss your plans. We’d love to help!
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
