A San Francisco home recently sold for 62% over its listed asking price, and the internet predictably lost its mind. But before you spiral into existential dread about ever owning property in this city, let's talk about what's actually going on — because the headline number is both real and deeply misleading.

Yes, the sale happened. Yes, the final price blew past the listing. But here's the thing: listing prices in San Francisco are not what sellers expect to get. They're bait. As one local put it bluntly, "List price doesn't mean anything because people frequently use a teaser price to attempt to attract a bidding war. This was priced below $1,000 per square foot, which is a joke. That is what someone would have paid in like 2010."

Another SF resident echoed the point: "There's a big difference between the Asking Price and the price that the Realtor and Seller hope to get."

This is the real estate equivalent of a "SALE: 90% OFF" sign at a store that marked everything up 500% last week. Realtors deliberately underprice listings to generate buzz, trigger bidding wars, and manufacture urgency. It works because buyers panic, and panic pays.

So is the SF housing market hot? Absolutely. Inventory remains tight, demand from tech workers and dual-income households keeps pushing prices, and the city's own regulatory framework — decades of restrictive zoning, byzantine permitting, and NIMBYism dressed up as "neighborhood character preservation" — ensures that supply never catches up.

But let's not pretend a 62% over-ask number tells the full story. The actual price per square foot — around $1,400 — is expensive, sure, but well within the range of what comparable properties have sold for in recent years. The "shock" is manufactured.

The real outrage shouldn't be directed at one listing. It should be directed at a city government that has spent years making it nearly impossible to build enough housing to meet demand. Every unit blocked by a planning commission delay, every project killed by an environmental review weaponized by neighbors who already own homes — that's what drives prices up.

San Francisco doesn't have a bidding war problem. It has a supply problem. And until City Hall treats housing production like the emergency it is, expect more of these breathless over-ask headlines — and the very real unaffordability behind the theater.