It is the oldest story in American capitalism, retold at AI scale. Wealth appears almost overnight, and before long it begins searching for somewhere to live. Maybe a Gulfstream. Probably a Patek Philippe. Almost certainly a property. Or another property.
On June 12, SpaceX rang the opening bell at Nasdaq in a $75 billion IPO, the largest public offering in history. By the closing bell, more than 4,400 current and former employees—including machinists and cafeteria workers—had become millionaires. Roughly 400 were suddenly worth more than $100 million.
SpaceX is unlikely to be the last. OpenAI has confidentially filed for its own IPO, while Anthropic, Databricks and Cohere are widely expected to follow. One analysis projects the coming wave could mint more than 16,000 new millionaires and roughly 20 billionaires—a wealth-creation event already beginning to ripple through the world’s most rarefied property markets.
“What we’re witnessing right now is one of the largest generational wealth-creation events since the dot-com era," said Kevin Dees, a Los Angeles-based agent at Carolwood Estates. “It’s a life-changing event, and the first thing that pops into a lot of these individuals’ minds is, ‘Let’s buy that dream property we’ve always wanted.’"
In San Francisco, where the median home price climbed to a record $2.15 million in March, the effects are surfacing in increasingly curious ways. A three-bedroom bungalow in Duboce Triangle, listed for just under $3 million, reads like any other new listing until the final sentence, where the seller casually offers to accept OpenAI or Anthropic shares instead of cash.
Another seller dispensed with subtlety altogether. An $8 million Marin estate was marketed directly to Anthropic employees through a flurry of LinkedIn messages from its investment banker-owner. A “diversification play," he called it.
“Fortunes have a habit of seeking permanence and, sooner or later, they usually find it in brick, glass and stone.”
Neither transaction ultimately closed in stock. Private shares remain notoriously illiquid. Difficult to value, harder still to transfer. But the offers alone have flooded inboxes, making plain just how much of this newfound wealth still exists on paper, waiting for somewhere tangible to settle.
Some fortunes, however, are already crystallizing into deeds. San Francisco's luxury market has become one of the country's hottest, with marquee homes routinely attracting seven-figure bidding wars and trophy properties commanding premiums well above asking. In Los Angeles, Dees describes the shift as palpable—a welcome resurgence after what had been an otherwise listless start to the year.
Beyond the forever home
Every boom develops its own architectural vernacular. The industrialists of the Gilded Age announced themselves with gold-leaf ceilings and palatial Renaissance revival-style villas. Wall Street prized Park Avenue co-ops, then the first wave of Silicon Valley fortunes flashed in glass boxes behind the hedges of Atherton and Los Altos Hills.
AI wealth appears considerably more itinerant. Today's buyers are younger, more internationally mobile and less interested in a singular forever home than a carefully assembled portfolio, said Martin Bikhit, CEO and founder of London-based UK Forbes Global Properties. One residence for work. Another for leisure. A third for tax efficiency. A millionaire’s trifecta.
With all the money at your disposal, where does one go? California, where the AI companies cluster, sure. But perhaps the white-sand beaches of Miami beckon too, where international access sits at your fingertips and branded residences, long a fixture of the Miami skyline, are likely to find their most natural new customer.
“One residence for work. Another for leisure. A third for tax efficiency. A millionaire’s trifecta.”
For buyers whose lives now traverse across San Francisco, Miami and London, ownership is increasingly measured by the absence of friction. Branded residences provide the solution. Concierge teams pamper the property in the owner’s absence while engineers resolve maintenance issues before owners arrive. Wellness comes built in—a spa, a plunge pool, a personal trainer on staff.
Europe’s AI property play
Geography is shifting alongside capital. Coincidentally—or perhaps not—on the very day SpaceX went public, OpenAI announced plans for its first Spanish office in Madrid. Luxury prices in the Spanish capital have already climbed nearly 10% year over year, propelled largely by international demand. Whether AI workers become the market’s next gravitational force remains an open question. Amsterdam is mounting its own bid, with a founder-backed AI campus opening this fall in pursuit of what its backers call “Europe's sovereign AI stack.”
London's King's Cross may offer the clearest preview. Once better known for railway platforms and nightclubs than research labs, the district has evolved into one of Europe's densest concentrations of AI talent, anchored by Google and Google DeepMind, with Anthropic and OpenAI preparing to join them.
“Ten years ago, wealth might have defaulted to Mayfair or Notting Hill," said Bikhit. "Today, areas like King's Cross are increasingly relevant. It is becoming one of Europe's most important innovation hubs, and that tends to influence where wealth wants to live."
Most of these fortunes remain locked behind vesting schedules. Chris Morrison, founding partner of Arizona-based brokerage RETSY, anticipates the real buying spree is likely to begin 12 to 18 months after each IPO, once lockups expire. Some founders, he says, are already borrowing against their private shares to secure homes before liquidity arrives.
For now, much of the wealth exists only on spreadsheets and cap tables. History suggests that won’t last. Fortunes have a habit of seeking permanence and, sooner or later, they usually find it in brick, glass and stone.
Carolwood Estates, UK Forbes Global Properties and RETSY are members of Forbes Global Properties, the invitation-only network of top-tier brokerages worldwide and the exclusive real estate partner of Forbes.