San Francisco's housing market is so bonkers one seller built a LinkedIn page just for his $8M house — then DM'd Anthropic staff to trade it for stock

His motivation? To snap up Anthropic shares ahead of its looming IPO. Duncan was so keen on getting the stock that he boosted his luxury listing — a 4,400-square-foot spread, with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge — on LinkedIn. He then direct-messaged Anthropic employees in the hopes of trading his house for stock.

“There’s definitely been some interest in it,” Duncan told the New York Post. “But it’s not your typical deal.”

It certainly attracted media interest, if not enough interest to sell. Duncan has since taken down his LinkedIn post and according to Realtor.com, his house is now off the market.

But as the New Times reports, he’s not the only San Francisco homeowner ready to trade their homes for AI stock, and that’s adding pressure to what is already a steaming hot housing market in San Francisco.

AI tilts San Francisco housing market

When it comes to San Francisco housing, AI is tilting what was already an unlevel playing field.

The New York Times recently featured the story of Katrine Razniak and Adam Woodbury, a San Francisco couple who work in software and together bring in $365,000 a year. They shared their struggle to find a one-bedroom apartment for under $5,000 a month.

“I feel a little bit like I’m not good enough to live here anymore because I don’t work at an AI company,” Woodbury told the Times, alluding to his better-paid peers at OpenAI and Anthropic.

The AI industry — and the multimillionaires it’s minting — is also skewing the price of San Francisco homes, according to a June report from Compass, the real estate firm. The median home price is now $2.2 million, up from 1.7 million — a 17% hike.

Compass’s chief economist Mike Simonson described the situation as “Absolutely BANANAS” on X, noting that 44 homes sold for $1 million above asking in June.