The Parnassus site accounts for at least three cranes — two tower cranes and a shorter horizontal-jib crane — as UCSF continues its long-running hospital replacement project on the west side campus.

Observers note that the bulk of current crane activity is tied to publicly subsidized affordable housing projects rather than market-rate development. That split matters: market-rate developers have been slower to break ground despite a reported 22 percent year-over-year rent increase, according to Bloomberg, which cited the AI employment surge as a driver of renewed housing demand. Whether that rent pressure eventually pulls more private construction off the sidelines remains an open question for the Planning Department and MOHCD to answer in the coming budget cycle.

The informal crane count is a rough proxy for pipeline activity, not a Planning Department metric. The city does not publish a real-time crane index, and the sightline from Bernal Hill does not capture projects in the Bayview, Visitacion Valley, or the eastern waterfront.

What to watch: The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to take up several housing-related ordinances before the summer recess. The Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development will present its pipeline update at the next Housing Authority Commission meeting. The Planning Department's quarterly development report is expected in July.