New owner is said to be involved in AI industry, as new class of multimillionaires is entering the real estate race<\/p>\n
A luxury Lake Como-inspired estate in the San Francisco Bay Area has sold to a buyer \u201cin the AI world\u201d for a record $70m, in the latest sign of a new tech wealth boom that\u2019s pushing home prices to extraordinary heights in the region<\/p>\n
The property south of San Francisco not only becomes the most expensive sale in its affluent town of Hillsborough, doubling a previous record, but is also the most expensive sale in northern California this year, according to listing agent Jennifer Gilson of Golden Gate Sotheby\u2019s International Realty.<\/p>\n
Gilson declined to share any details about the buyer, other than that the new owner of 3000 Ralston Avenue is a man in the AI industry. It is the latest sign of a housing boom across Silicon Valley being driven by AI wealth. Last month, an analysis found that more than 140 San Francisco homes have sold at least $1m above their asking price in the first six months of this year.<\/p>\n
The property, known as \u201cVilla de Verano\u201d, was initially listed at $88m, and sat on the market for only four months and 22 days. Besides a six-bed, 12,400 sq ft home that is complete with its own gym, theater, spa and aquarium, the 12-acre property also features a pool, a rose garden, an amphitheater, a guest property and a sporting area fitted with seven courts and a putting green. Its opulence stands out even among other palatial Hillsborough homes, which include Bing Crosby\u2019s $25m home, Elon Musk\u2019s $32m former home and the Levi Strauss-connected $17.8m Koshland Estate.<\/p>\n
Yet Gilson says this sale is only a \u201cstepping stone\u201d into a market of homes catering to the incredibly wealthy.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven in the last year, there\u2019s been a major increase of buyers from the AI world,\u201d she said. \u201cThis could be just the beginning of the ultra luxury.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the San Francisco-based companies OpenAI and Anthropic filed for initial public offerings earlier this summer, a new class of multimillionaires has entered the real estate race. An analysis by brokerage Compass described a \u201chousing market increasingly segmented by income tier and proximity to AI-driven employment centers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gilson said she has seen an influx of wealth among buyers coming not just from AI companies, but increasingly from other, traditional industries. She described a \u201cdefinite increase\u201d in those ultra-rich buyers taking off-market, \u201chidden\u201d opportunities, meaning Gilson connects buyers to sellers without homes ever being listed.<\/p>\n
In San Mateo county, where the sale took place, the median price of a single-family home increased by 8.5% between May 2025 and May 2026. San Francisco county saw a more than one-fifth increase, with median prices jumping from $1.8m to $2.2m.<\/p>\n