How hosting the Super Bowl signals a real estate renaissance in San Francisco

Like the Seattle Seahawks prepare to confront the New England Patriots on Sunday, Superbowl LX Host city San Francisco is preparing to show off its recent revival after years of grappling with major economic and quality of life challenges.

Since taking office just over a year ago, Mayor Daniel Lurie has been busy cleaning up the city, from dismantling homeless encampments to cracking down on open drug use and car burglaries.

An estimated 1.3 million travelers are expected to pass through San Francisco International Airport by February 10, while approximately 90,000 visitors will attend Super Bowl-related events. Lurie, a moderate Democrat who takes on crime, is given the opportunity to present a renewed image of the city to a global audience.

“With all eyes on San Francisco, I am confident we will provide our residents and visitors with a fun and safe week,” Lurie said at a meeting in San Francisco. Super Bowl Week Kickoff Briefing on Monday. “San Francisco is at the center of the action and I couldn’t be more excited.”

By 2025, San Francisco’s overall crime rate fell 30% citywide and 40% downtown, with violent crime falling 22% and car burglaries reaching a 22-year low. according to the Lurie government.

San Francisco’s homelessness crisis, which has made the city a national symbol of failed progressive policies for critics, is also starting to ease.

According to the latter facts Department of Emergency Management report released over the summer showed 165 tents spread across the city, an 85% drop from 1,108 in 2020.

At the same time, the number of fatal drug overdoses is showing a downward trend. By the end of 2025, the ‘Golden City’ had recorded 621 accidental overdose deaths, compared to a record 810 in 2023.

The AI-powered boom in San Francisco

Now the city is ready to show the country and the world how far it has come.

‘San Francisco knows this is their chance to change the narrative’ real estate agent Johannes Solaeguiwith Compass, tells Realtor.com®.

The shift began with the election of Lurie, who Solaegui describes as a “cheerleader” for the city.

While San Francisco’s renaissance is still in its infancy, businesses, professionals and homebuyers are starting to take notice, giving the local housing market a welcome boost fueled by Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence boom.

“The atmosphere in San Francisco has completely changed in the past year,” Solaegui says. “And recently the market has shifted into high gear. And the general trend is that the AI ​​money is all over San Francisco.”

The agent explains that founders and employees of AI companies have gone on a buying spree since last fall, snapping up houses and apartments in the city, signaling renewed confidence in San Francisco.

“The biggest driver in our resurgent market right now is that there are so many buyers,” Solaegui says. “There are simply more buyers than there are houses for sale, so there is an imbalance there.”

How San Francisco’s housing market has changed

Recent housing data analyzed by Realtor.com researchers confirm the broker’s observation: While home prices have softened in much of the San Francisco metro, the pace of sales has increased, with homes spending less time on the market in December than a year ago and inventory tightening — signs of growing demand.

“Nearly all central zip codes with sufficient data are showing lower inventory levels compared to last year, even though asking prices are generally lower, which likely helps attract buyers back to the market,” says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst. Hannah Jones.

However, two zip codes – 94105, which includes parts of the expensive Financial District and South of Market (SoMa) neighborhoods, and 94133, which includes the famous North Beach, Chinatown and Telegraph Hill neighborhoods – stood out, with year-over-year price increases of more than 50%.

In December, for example, the typical home in zip code 94133 was for sale for nearly $3.5 million, up from $2.3 million a year ago.

“In these areas, listing prices per square foot also rose sharply, up 24.9% in 94105 and 14.3% in 94133, making them notable outliers amid a broader price decline in downtown San Francisco,” says Jones.

The median home price for the broader San Francisco metro was $872,000 in December, down 2% from a year ago, according to Realtor.com’s latest monthly housing market trends report.

Solaegui advises clients looking to buy in San Francisco to be fully prepared and have their financing in order, as homes move quickly and bidding wars are common, especially for trophy properties.

The broker’s client list includes not only buyers from across the US, but also from around the world looking to purchase real estate in San Francisco this year.

“I have so many clients who were born in other countries and came here to start a new business or build a new life,” he says.

“San Francisco attracts a very special kind of person,” he adds. “It attracts people who are resilient, creative and willing to take risks.”

New mayor tackles crime

Lurie, a 48-year-old political newcomer and heir to Levi Strauss’ clothing fortune, defeated the incumbent president London racea fellow Democrat, in November 2024, after making crime-fighting and revitalization central to his campaign.

In a recent interview on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephenopoulos,” Lurie said his administration is committed to refocusing government on basics and common sense, with public safety at its core.

“If you come to San Francisco today to commit a crime, we are going to catch you and prosecute you,” Lurie said. “If you come to San Francisco to deal drugs or use drugs, we are going to prosecute you.”

Solaegui says the mayor’s strategy is paying off.

“Safety is the foundation of anyone who chooses a neighborhood and a home,” he says. “They want to make sure that they, their family and their friends are safe.”

However, the officer points out that previous media portrayals of San Francisco as a lawless city littered with hypodermic needles were unfair.

“San Francisco is a collection of neighborhoods, and there are some neighborhoods that have these problems, but there are also a lot of neighborhoods where just regular people live who have always been safe, even during the worst part of all the reporting we had,” Solaegui said. “When people hear the story that the streets are unsafe, they believe it and may be more reluctant to buy a house.”

Lurie has worked to counter that perception with daily social media posts promoting San Francisco, even as he acknowledges challenges remain.

“I’m not going to sit here and say you can’t go down some of our streets and see some of the things you’ve seen over the years, but we’ve made great progress,” he said in the interview.

As part of his approach to improving city life from the ground up, Lurie has also focused on getting rid of outdated or ineffective rules that have long irked San Franciscans.

A year into his mayoralty, Lurie abolished a rule requiring homeowners to build a screen or fence to shield their driveway from neighbors if they want to park their car there. reported the New York Times.

Another city ordinance that fell by the wayside under Lurie’s leadership in response to complaints from businesses would have required restaurant owners who wanted to use candles in their dining rooms to go to the city’s permit office with the candle in hand, light it and wave a napkin over it to prove the lamp wouldn’t catch on fire.

In the grand scheme of things, they’re both small solutions, but for Lurie, small, everyday details add up – and can make a real difference in the lives of voters.