The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home at 116 Cherry Street in San Francisco hit the market on a Friday.
After 11 days and 16 competing offers, the home was pending sale on Nov. 21 — at nearly 50% over asking price. It officially sold for $4.4 million.
It's part of a growing trend in San Francisco that listing agent Alexander Lurie calls "a massive tectonic shift."
"People want to be in San Francisco. San Francisco is back," he told Homes.com in an interview.
For a property like the 100-year-old home on Cherry Street, that means more demand than usual, said Lurie, who represented the sellers alongside David Cohen.
"When you find a home that sort of embraces the original character but marries modern sort of living, that is increasingly so desired," he said. "It's one of the reasons that we had so many offers and interest on the property."
Growth in the tech industry is driving home sales in San Francisco
It's been an interesting year for the national housing market. On the whole, economists are forecasting that 2025 will be the third consecutive year of historically low home sales.
Though there have been some bright spots — rising inventory, easing mortgage rates, slowing home price growth — signaling that more activity could be on the way, the consensus is that the market was mostly sluggish this year.
However, housing is hyperlocal — and right now, San Francisco is an anomaly when compared to the national picture.
"This has always been a world-class city, but we've gone through a tough time," Lurie explained. "Now, we're coming out of it in such a robust way that people want to be part of the action in the next chapter of this historical moment in the narrative of San Francisco."
The city's technology sector has created a "spike in demand" for the housing market, especially luxury properties, according to Nigel Hughes, director of market analytics for Homes.com.
"The strong growth in the AI tech sector is the main reason, with billions of dollars in venture capital flowing into start-up companies, creating well-paid new jobs," Hughes told Homes.com. "Early investors and employees of companies, including OpenAI, have recently been able to cash out some of their share options, resulting in substantial windfall gains."
That's been like "putting kerosene" on the already growing demand, Lurie said.
"I haven't seen things be absorbed, in other words, going to contract this quickly for about a decade in San Francisco," he added. "With the buyer demand where it is, coupled with potentially less inventory, at least in the spring market, I think you're going to see prices just continue to rise — and rise quickly."