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AI Tech Worker Demand Is Fueling Real Estate Markets In Multiple Cities 

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As artificial intelligence continues to grow, develop, and take over a multitude of industries, the demand for individuals who are educated in the intricacies of AI is also on the rise. This increase in demand is fueling real estate demand in office, residential, and even retail. 

According to a CBRE analysis of LinkedIn data, the pool of tech workers with AI skills across the US and Canada has grown by over 50% from mid-2024 to mid-2025, for a total of 517,000 workers, CNBC reports. 

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The San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, D.C. are the areas that are seeing the most concentrated levels of this AI talent, with the top three accounting for 35% of the national total. 

The New York metropolitan area specifically added the most AI tech talent within the past year based on actual numbers with 20,000 new AI-skilled workers. CNBC reported that Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Toronto and Washington, D.C., each saw 75% year-over-year increases in AI workers. 

The growth in jobs across multiple industries adopting AI is paralleled with the new skills being developed by these workers as well. 

“With this AI revolution, it’s been a fundamental game changer for the city of San Francisco, because that’s really ground zero for the AI revolution and where most of these major high-profile firms like OpenAI are located,” said Colin Yasukochi, executive director of CBRE’s Tech Insights Center.

While Silicon Valley was the initial epicenter of this developing industry, AI has expanded to reach multiple cities and sectors where basic tech is now retreating as well. AI tech talent in general is in high demand, especially in financial services, insurance, and real estate. 

Manhattan specifically is seeing a higher demand for office and apartment spaces. Financial services have been some of the hope hirers of AI talent. While other sectors of the tech industry have gone more remote, AI is still in its early innovation stages.

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Reports show that in the first half of 2025, tech companies accounted for 17% of total US office leasing activity, which is up from 10% in late 2022. 

According to CBRE, in San Francisco alone throughout the last two and a half years, 1 out of every 4 square feet of office space was leased by an AI company. 

“AI is predominantly in-office work, and they’re sort of back to the earlier days of tech innovation, where they’re in the office five, six days a week and for long hours,” said Yasukochi. 

“That’s certainly boosted office space demand.”

According to the CBRE report, the hiring of AI talent has impacted residential real estate, with apartment rentals increasing in all of the top AI tech markets. 

“The apartment rent growth from 2021 to 2024 in Manhattan was more than14%, in D.C. more than12%, in Seattle above 7% and in San Francisco nearly 6%,” CNBC wrote. 

“This idea that AI is obviously the future of technology, that it’s just kind of getting started, it’s still relatively early days – it’s another potential tech boom, and that’s driving people to come to cities where this is happening, and that’s affecting the real estate markets,” said Yasukochi.

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Amazon Tests Humanoid Robots for Delivery as Part of Expanding Automation Strategy

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Amazon is reportedly taking its automation ambitions to the next level, developing humanoid robots designed to assist with and potentially replace human delivery workers.

According to tech outlet The Information, the $2 trillion tech giant is constructing a dedicated “humanoid park” in the U.S., where robots will be tested in indoor environments before being deployed in the field.

The space, described as roughly the size of a coffee shop, is housed within an Amazon office in San Francisco and serves as an obstacle course to gauge how well these machines can navigate real-world delivery scenarios.

The goal? To create robots that can ride inside Amazon’s Rivian delivery vans and “spring out” to make deliveries. While human drivers may still be present, these robots could allow for multi-drop efficiency — for instance, enabling the robot to handle one address while the driver tackles another. It’s part of Amazon’s broader vision for streamlining the notoriously labor-intensive “last mile” of delivery.

Although Amazon is spearheading the development of the software that will power the robots’ artificial intelligence, it is reportedly relying on external companies to build the physical hardware.

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One such company is Agility Robotics, whose “Digit” robot has already been tested in Amazon warehouses. Agility’s CEO Peggy Johnson said in an earlier interview with The Guardian that Digit has enabled workers to offload tasks and transition into other roles.

“Employees who were previously doing this physical work appreciate the fact that they can hand that off to Digit. Then it allows them to do a number of other things, one of which is to be a robot manager.”

Sarah Franklin, the CEO of Lattice, a technology company based in the United States that offers a platform for human resources departments, stated that the workforce landscape is set to undergo significant transformation due to the influence of artificial intelligence.

Entry-level positions serve as the foundation of a workforce, with opportunities becoming increasingly selective as individuals progress into management and executive roles.

“AI can make this more of a diamond shape, where the entry levels are harder to get. The pace of innovation is outpacing education. That is a dangerous future if we don’t rapidly invest in ensuring that everyone is proficient with AI, especially entry-level workers.”

Amazon’s humanoid testing zone reportedly includes one of its more than 20,000 Rivian electric vans currently in operation across the U.S. Once the robots pass initial tests in the controlled indoor course, Amazon plans to send them on supervised “field trips” to deliver packages in real residential environments.

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The company’s ambitions in autonomous delivery aren’t limited to humanoids. Amazon has also invested heavily in self-driving technology via its Zoox subsidiary and has received clearance to test drone deliveries beyond the line of sight of human operators in the UK, a significant step toward drone-based logistics.

Experts say the vision is ambitious but not entirely out of reach. Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy, chair of robot learning and autonomy at the University of Edinburgh, said Amazon’s interest in robotic last-mile delivery aligns with its deep investment in automation. While the field of humanoid robotics has made significant strides in recent years, Ramamoorthy noted that reliable outdoor performance remains a major hurdle.

Achieving consistent success outside of tightly controlled test environments, such as the so-called ‘humanoid park,’ is still a real challenge, he explained.

“If Amazon restricts the scope, which means using relatively clear driveways and standard layouts of doors and surroundings, then the task would be quite a bit simpler. As the environments become more complex and variable, and others enter the picture – such as pets and small children – the problems become harder.”

Still, with a robust internal robotics team and a growing ecosystem of AI and delivery infrastructure, Amazon seems well-positioned to be a frontrunner in the future of humanoid logistics — one where robots could soon be walking packages up to your doorstep.