Published Jul. 13, 2026at6:00am
In a recent listing (opens in new tab) for an apartment in Duboce Triangle, a seller offered to knock off a couple of million dollars in exchange for OpenAI or Anthropic stock. Over in Mill Valley, a real estate investor sought out Anthropic employees willing to trade their shares for his $8 million compound.
While it may sound like a clever shortcut for employees — leveraging equity in AI companies before they go public to get ahead in a brutal housing market — local real estate and wealth management professionals say these barter deals are not happening.
“We’re not seeing people actually offering stock,” said Blakely Hull, a Bay Area real estate broker. “Sure, there’s anomalies and exceptions to every rule, but by and large, we are seeing the majority of offers actually still financed.”
OpenAI and Anthropic are each valued at about $1 trillion. Anthropic is expected to IPO this fall, while OpenAI has reportedly pushed its plans into next year. With the highly anticipated wealth expected to come from their public market debuts, speculation about where the newly minted millionaires (and a few billionaires) will spend their money is at a fever pitch.