San Francisco estate sells for $10m above listing price as AI boom drives up costs

A San Francisco estate sold for $10m above its listing price this month in a new record for the city as the artificial intelligence boom continues to drive up real estate prices.Located in the city’s tony Presidio Wall neighborhood, the eight-bedroom mansion was listed at $18.5m on 2 October and ultimately sold for $28.5m on 22 October, according to the property’s listing.It was built on Cherry Street in 1966 with a design from the prominent city firm Whisler-Patri, which SF Gate described as previously one of San Francisco’s “most active architectural offices”. The property has an unusually large footprint for the city, according to the listing, including a private garden and three-car garage.The sale comes as the AI industry with its high paid employees has caused housing costs to soar. Costs have risen so steeply that it can be challenging for even those with six-figure income to find housing, the Guardian reported earlier this month.The higher end of the market is also seeing intense competition, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In the first six months of the year, more than 140 homes in the city sold for $1m over asking or more, the outlet reported, citing data from Compass. A year earlier that figure was eight. Almost 92% of single-family homes sold above asking in September, according to the Chronicle.The Cherry Street home had been in one family for more than 40 years, and was sold by the Janice R Lurie Trust and Robert A Lurie Trust, the San Francisco Business Times reported. Robert Lurie previously owned the San Francisco Giants.