Go inside the hottest neighborhood in San Francisco, where home prices have risen 75% in the last 5 years

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

Everything the light touches is Bernal Heights.

For a long time, Bernal Heights was the best kept secret in San Francisco real estate.

Short commutes into downtown, relatively affordable homes, and 360-degree views from atop its hills made it a desirable place for artists, musicians, and tech workers to settle down.

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But the residential enclave located south of the city's pricey Mission District and Noe Valley has seen a surge in popularity in recent years, driving the median sale price of a single-family home to $1.36 million, up 75% from five years ago. In 2014, real estate site Redfin named the north slope of Bernal Heights, an area that's densely packed with million-dollar homes, the hottest neighborhood in America based on increases in search traffic to local listings.

I recently spent the afternoon in Bernal Height's northern end to see what the buzz is about.