Buyer With Ties to the Schwab Family Pays $42 Million for San Francisco Home -- WSJ

Dow Jones
Oct 15

By Sarah Tilton

The mystery buyer behind San Francisco's priciest home sale of the year is a limited liability company linked to Katie Schwab Paige, daughter of the famed financier Charles Schwab, The Wall Street Journal can reveal.

The Pacific Heights house, which sold for $42 million, wasn't publicly listed for sale. It was the longtime home of Brooks Walker Jr., a well-known fixture in San Francisco business and social circles, who died last year at 96.

The buyer of the house is HOS Pacific LLC, the same entity that owns another Pacific Heights home belonging to Katie Schwab Paige and her husband, Matt Paige, according to property records. Katie co-founded investment firm Short List Capital, while Matt is the owner of Paige Glass, a glass contractor, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Built in 1928, the former Walker home is approximately 7,320 square feet and has sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay. It is located on the city's Gold Coast, an area with imposing historic and modern homes. Nearby neighbors included Gordon Getty, former Apple designer Jony Ive and Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison. Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire president of Emerson Collective and the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, paid a record $71 million for a house on the same street in 2024 and is currently renovating it, according to records. Nvidia's Jensen Huang also owns a house in the area. He's doing work on it after paying $38 million, records show.

The Paiges and the Walker family didn't respond to requests for comment.

Joe Lucier and Stacey Caen of Sotheby's International Realty represented the buyers.

Agent Neal Ward of Compass, who wasn't associated with the deal, said the San Francisco market is the strongest he has seen in more than 30 years, fueled by the AI boom as well as buyers in private equity, hedge funds and venture capital. "Huge amounts of wealth are being created at this moment," Ward said, noting that first-time buyers in their 30s are snapping up $5 million to $30 million homes. "We're at levels we've never seen."

The number of September home sales in San Francisco was up 36% year-over-year, according to Compass and Multiple Listing Service data. Meanwhile, there have been 106 sales of $5 million and over year-to-date through Oct. 10, versus 85 such sales in 2024 and 62 in 2023.

Ward also gave credit to the city's new mayor, Daniel Lurie. "The city is back which is helping fuel this demand," Ward said. "We are cleaned up and people feel safe and good again."

-- Additional reporting by Katherine Clarke

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2025 10:30 ET (14:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

At the request of the copyright holder, you need to log in to view this content

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10