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In SF old housing stock is rent controlled. On the rare occasion that it pops up on the market, competition is fierce. Usually it doesn't turn over, because policies intended to prevent that turnover are working.

New luxury complexes have straightforward availability and rent first-come-first-served. The leasing office will make an appointment with you pretty much whenever, and if you apply, you get the unit. They're known quantities with Yelp reviews and everything.

If you're a newcomer with not much time and not much price sensitivity, which are you going to end up with?

FWIW, Victorians in good shape rent for more than luxury skyscrapers. Rich people do prefer them and they are, in fact, more luxurious. But buildings that throw around the word "luxury" are the path of least resistance.

You'd be hard pressed to find any luxury apartment as luxurious as an average 100-year-old single family home, yet for some reason only the former is an obnoxious wealth symbol.