Getty Images/iStockphoto

Seemingly contradictory signals in housing-market data suggest that the rich are looking to bolt. San Francisco?s status as a destination city for tech workers and people who hate temperature changes of more than five degrees has made it one of the most expensive housing markets in the world. After years of home prices making like tech stocks and going up, up, up, the COVID-19 pandemic has now thrown the city into a state of flux, as people are moving within and out of the city to adjust to their new pandemic reality.
San Francisco is one of two cities in the country where the overblown narrative of a pandemic-driven urban exodus actually holds true (New York, specifically Manhattan, being the other). While it will take years to definitively suss out what exactly is happening in migration patterns today, recent housing-market data is starting to signal who is leaving San Francisco ? and it?s the rich. According to Zillow?s August housing-market report, San Francisco saw a 1.5 percent uptick in available homes for sale year over year. That may sound like only a minor increase, but it puts San Francisco far ahead of other cities in the state, which are experiencing profound supply shortages. Sacramento?s market has more than 40 percent fewer homes available than it did last year, and nearby San Jose ? which usually moves in lockstep with San Francisco ? saw a 19 percent drop in August year over year. Rises in the number of total listings usuall...