Boom 2.0: S.F. Rents Are Nation's Highest, City Population At its Highest

Boom times are back. And bigger than ever.

San Francisco's population is at an all-time high of 812,826 -- and rents are the most expensive in the country, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Welcome to Technology Boom 2.0 -- bigger and more expensive than the original version.

And what is the nature of this current economic boomtime, coming when much of the rest of the country speaks still of hard times?

"The bars and restaurants are packed with people," the newspaper reported. "Millionaire baseball players and celebrity chefs - not poets or political leaders - are the toast of the city."

Homes are selling at record rates. There's a Victorian at 21st and Folsom that sold for $1.45 million, almost seven times its 1996 sale price of $202,000.

The winner is the 1903 Edwardian at 20th and Church that went on the market for $849,000 -- and sold for $1.4 million ten days later.