Employees at OpenAI and Anthropic could collectively afford to buy nearly one-third of all homes in the San Francisco metro area once the two AI giants go public, according to a Redfin report published July 9.

For San Mateo County, where the median home already costs $2.4 million and assessed values just set a record, Burlingame and Hillsborough sit squarely in the path of that wealth as two of the county's priciest markets.

Redfin analyst Dana Anderson estimated that OpenAI employees would net roughly $135 billion after taxes from an IPO, enough to theoretically purchase about 20% of all residential real estate in the San Francisco metro. Anthropic employees would net an estimated $63 billion, covering another 9%. Combined, that $198 billion in buying power represents about 29% of the metro's housing stock, which Redfin valued at $692 billion using 2024 data. At current prices, the actual share would be somewhat lower.

Both companies filed to go public earlier in 2026. OpenAI is reportedly seeking a $1 trillion valuation; Anthropic was valued at approximately $965 billion in May. Neither had set an IPO date as of Friday, July 11, according to the Washington Post.

Some of that wealth has already been unlocked. In October 2025, more than 600 current and former OpenAI employees sold combined shares worth $6.6 billion through a tender offer, an average of $11 million per participant, according to BBC reporting. Anthropic employees sold shares totaling approximately $6 billion through similar arrangements.

"People are flush with cash and ready to buy," Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's chief economist, told the BBC.

That cash is landing in San Mateo County. The median single-family home price here reached $2,401,000 in May 2026, up 9.1% from $2,200,000 a year earlier, according to the California Association of Realtors. County Assessor Mark Church reported July 8 that total assessed property values hit a record $357.6 billion for fiscal year 2026-27, a $16.6 billion increase. Burlingame alone added $1.15 billion in assessed value, ranking fifth among all county cities.

Church said the county "continues to benefit from a diverse economy, world-class employers, and sustained demand for property" despite higher interest rates and affordability challenges.

The broader Bay Area picture underscores the pressure. In the first half of 2026, more than 140 homes in San Francisco sold for at least $1 million above asking price, including 44 in June alone, according to Compass data. That compares to just eight such sales in the same period of 2025. San Francisco's single-family home inventory dropped roughly 45% year-over-year, and a Compass market intelligence report attributed the crunch to AI and tech-driven demand creating "aggressive bidding wars on the scarce inventory."

Anthropic's IPO would create roughly 1,200 deca-millionaires and make its seven co-founders billionaires, the Washington Post reported, based on the company's current valuation.

No IPO dates have been announced. But with a $2.4 million median and inventory already tight, San Mateo County's market has little room to absorb a new wave of buyers.