Starting with the late-’90s dot-com bubble, the tech economy has had the power to mint a new class of millionaires and billionaires in the San Francisco Bay Area—and today’s AI gold rush is no exception. The region’s real estate market, which briefly decelerated during the pandemic, has rebounded and then some: Since the 2022 launch of ChatGPT, luxury home prices have jumped 13.4 percent in the Bay Area, according to data from Redfin, while the median home sale price there increased over 10 percent in April from a year earlier.

Since design industry spending is downstream of housing market movement, should Bay Area designers brace themselves for a boom in business? For some, the answer is yes. Designer Jay Jeffers, whose firm operates in both San Francisco and New York, has already seen an uptick.

“[We’ve] definitely been feeling it,” says Jeffers. “For my office, the last quarter of last year and all this year the phone’s been ringing, and it’s been crazy. People are buying homes, my real estate friends are selling things, and things are very hot—back to multiple offers and going for way over asking.”

This year, his firm has already seen an additional three to four inquiries per month from prospective clients who have recently bought homes in the Bay Area. Jeffers estimates that historically, roughly half of his San Francisco clients were working with a designer for the first time—and that hasn’t changed. Still, this new clientele is looking for a slightly different experience, typically in search of a project with a shorter runway to move-in ready.

“Whether it’s a full remodel or a home that’s finished and they’re just looking to decorate, or something in between, I haven’t seen as many [who say], ‘We’re buying a home and we’re going to gut remodel,’” he says. “It’s more like, ‘We bought a home, we’re ready to get into it.’”

Designer Lindsay Anyon Brier, has also noticed a sharp rise in inquiries this year, particularly in San Francisco, which she attributes not only to the city’s growing number of AI companies, but also to related industries the technology attracts. “Other tech and software firms are pivoting to incorporate AI into their core business,” says the designer, whose firm, Anyon Interior Design, is based in Presidio Heights. “As a result, we are seeing C-level executives who may have previously worked remotely moving back to the Bay Area to be part of the local AI community.”

The client demographics are distinctly younger, she says, and they tend to seek a home experience that eschews the high-tech approach dominating their working lives. “They often have multiple homes and have suffered from the headache of arriving to a holiday home to deal with nonfunctioning outdated technology in AV systems,” she says. “The directive I get is [to make a project] ‘future proof,’ but there is an understanding that home innovation is rapidly evolving, [so] many people choose to keep home automation fairly minimal.”

Some designers haven’t yet felt the effects of San Francisco’s AI transformation—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t anticipating it. Amy Friedberg has already seen AI overhaul the city’s economy in recent years (both her adult children work in the field). “The whole world is AI up here,” says Friedberg, whose namesake firm is on the San Francisco peninsula. “Are we seeing the financial boom yet? I’m sure some people are, but I don’t think the boom has actually happened yet. I think it’s going to happen, it’s coming, [because] it does seem like there are a ton of people working for AI companies and a ton of people getting capital, [so] they do have money [to spend on homes].”

In fact, though many of her clients are working in the AI industry, they haven’t gone all out on spending, instead exercising caution in the face of economic uncertainty, fast-changing trade policies and international conflict. For some clients, that hesitation stems from having a front-row seat to their own industry.

“One of my clients is a CEO of an AI company, and we remodeled his house in Menlo Park, but he’s still very cautious,” says Friedberg. “We haven’t done every room, because he’s waiting to see where AI pans out in the next couple years.”

Local designer Noz Nozawa is preparing for big change—but is conscious of the inevitable bust that tends to follow every boom. “We are waiting with bated breath to see what happens in the aftermath of IPOs, acquisitions and collapsing of investor funds,” she says. “I’m sure the [same way the] last tech boom went, there will be a lot of big winners whom I hope choose to stay in the area and adorn their homes beautifully—and there will be a lot of folks who just trickle out or leave town. Whatever happens, if our future sentient robot overlords like nice furniture, I’ve got them.”

In a region that spawns so much digital innovation, some designers particularly appreciate the analog, rooted nature of their work. “By and large … AI hasn’t changed how people approach their homes,” says Clara Jung, the founder of Berkeley, California–based Banner Day Interiors. She notes: “This is actually a nice thing to sit with; it’s grounding. People still want the same things from the places they live.”

Additional reporting by Aidan Taylor