FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF MILAN@MILANSFHOMES.COM
From the San Francisco Business Times: https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2026/05/10/anthropic-openaileasing-prices-soma-mission-bay.html
SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:
$15K monthly rent? Anthropic and OpenAI employees 'flooded the market,' jacking up prices in downtown San Francisco
Millennium Tower, located at 301 Mission St., has seen the waiting list for lease candidates in the building continue to lengthen as units are now going way over where they leased for even just last year
ADAM PARDEE
By Ted Andersen – Digital Editor, San Francisco Business Times
May 10, 2026
Listen to this article 6 min
Story Highlights
AI employees earning high salaries are driving up San Francisco lease prices.
A lawyer earning $300K lost a lease to an Anthropic employee making $850K.
A three-bedroom in Mission Bay just leased for a record of more than $15K per month
You would think a lawyer with a perfect credit score and an annual salary of $300,000 could easily landing a lease in downtown San Francisco, especially in a beleaguered stretch South of Market.
But in this era of San Francisco, that lawyer was trumped by an Anthropic employee earning $850,000.
Compass agents Milan Jezdimirovic and Dunja Green told the Business Times that this case and others just like it are now becoming commonplace in downtown's residential leasing market, as demand and prices rise with big AI salaries leading the charge.
Curated Benefits from Premium Brands
Enjoy exclusive discounts on business services, travel, and everyday essentials with Portfolio.
"We're getting a lot of OpenAI and Anthropic people," Jezdimirovic said. "I cannot tell you how many Anthropic and OpenAI people we ' ve had also Perplexity employees we had like five or six people from there in the last couple of weeks."
At One Rincon, Jezdimirovic said he and Green listed a one-bedroom lease about two weeks ago that was set to rent for $5,600 per month.
"We put it on the market and we already had a waiting list of people who reached out looking for something like this. So we got $6,500 for this one-bedroom place, which is one of the highest rents in the building for a one-bedroom ever, " he said.
"We had multiple applicants. There was a lady attorney that applied for the unit who had really good credit, you know, with a $300K income. All applicants were like top notch, but the one who got the place was some young guy that just got a job with Anthropic down the street because they have a new office on Howard who makes $850K, just the base salary.
"So this attorney didn't get a place, and she was very upset," he said. "Even with her credit, which is like almost max, and high income and savings and all that, she was not competitive. Now she's looking for something and has four or five buildings that she's considering, and there's nothing available. We literally have waiting lists for each building where people are trying to get in."
Jezdimirovic's partner Green agrees: "It seems like (AI workers) kind of flooded the market, and given the shortage of housing, they do understand how competitive it is. So now paying over asking is kind of a norm. It's like assumed already."
Green said the duo had a property at the Harrison that was renting fully furnished, and they had a potential renter who had great credit and income, but he wanted the unit unfurnished. "He's already paying like $9,000 for rent, and now he's willing to remove the furniture and pay storage for the owner on top of the rent. So he's paying like $600 a month on top of the rent just to keep the furniture in the storage and get the unit unfurnished," Green said.
Milan Jezdimirovic is a real estate agent with MD Real Estate, which is affiliated with Compass. MD REAL ESTATE
When it comes to the fast pace of downtown leases in the city, Green and Jezdimirovic say it's more robust than San Francisco's condo sales market, which is up year over year but has not matched the feverish demand of the rental market. One reason is that many owners are generally holding onto their units and waiting for better times, and higher prices, before selling.
Take the Millennium Tower at 301 Mission St., which remains challenged as it tries to turn the corner after economic headwinds over the past decade based on its high-profile structural lean. Out of 15 condo listings in the building for sale, only one is currently in contract.
However, the waiting list for lease candidates in the building continues to lengthen and units are going way over what they leased for even just last year. Jezdimirovic gave the example of unit #24A in the Millennium Tower, a two-
Dunja Green is an agent with Compass. COMPASS
bedroom unit with just under 1,500 square feet of living space, that leased for $6,338 per month in 2024 and then $6,990 per month in 2025. But less than two weeks ago on April 27, the same unit leased for a lofty $9,900 per month.
Elsewhere, neighborhoods like Mission Bay are also picking up rental steam, and in one case, set a new high mark for rental properties in the neighborhoods.
In mid-April, Jezdimirovic and Green leased an unfurnished three-bedroom, three-bathroom residence at 708 Long Bridge in Mission Bay's Arden, which offers one of the largest floor plans in the building as well as panoramic views of Mission Creek, Oracle Park and the Bay Bridge. The price? A staggering $15,490 per month the highest price the neighborhood has ever tallied. And that's for just 2,000 square feet of living space.
"It was the same thing: multiple applicants, and, of course, AI people. You know, it's a younger family, a nice couple with a kid. They like Mission Bay, they like
An aerial view of Mission Bay looking east
TODD JOHNSON | SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES
parks, they like the area. It's nice and clean with playgrounds and all that," he said.
And even low-floor units without views are receiving strong interest, such as a two-bedroom unit at 718 Long Bridge in Mission Bay that recently leased for $8,700 per month, 6.2% above the list price.
All this activity comes as San Francisco recently landed in the nation’s top 30 hottest housing markets, according to the latest data from rental marketplace RentCafe, which noted that high occupancy rates across the city have added to the tight rental market. Last month, rental marketplace Zumper noted that San Francisco rents hit an all-time high, with median one-bedroom rent of $3,850, up about 20% from a year ago.
