“Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a publicly broadcast Q & A with employees that his company is looking elsewhere for growth because of the Bay Area’s housing and traffic issues. The infrastructure here is really tapped. Housing prices are way up. Traffic is bad.” “Facebook’s largest locations outside of the Bay Area are Seattle,…Read More→

I was just mailed a marketing piece from the California Madera County, Economic Development Commission, and a few interesting facts: In 1990 California’s population was only 29,950,000 and now it is 39,927,000, a 10 million growth in less than 30 years! No wonder our housing hasn’t caught up. The average home price in 2018 in…Read More→

What was that old saying regarding killing the golden goose that laid the golden eggs? Sure you get one solid gold geese feast but that is it for a future supply of golden eggs! The San Francisco Planning Commission just okayed a plan to raise office fees by 143%! Fees would go from $69.90 per…Read More→

According to Asia Now: The China Edition, Matthew Asia’s 2019 report, among Chinese millennials 88% shop online more than once a week, there are 1 billion smartphone connections in China, 98.6% of internet users accessed the web via a mobile device, their middle class was 4% urban population in 2000 and in 2018 was up…Read More→

In National Real Estate Investor, July 12019, there was a report on the biggest flex office space markets in the country, with Regus and WeWork dominating.  Manhattan reported 13.5 million square feet with 30% annual growth, Los Angeles, 4.2 million with 15% annual growth, and in 6th place San Francisco with 2.8 million feet and…Read More→

Is the economic downturn on its way?  In the National Real Estate Investor, July, 2019 there were a number of different articles written by different authors but all pointing in the same direction for 2020 – down… Elaine Misonzhnik started it off on page 6, discussing industrial real estate “…while e-commerce growth will continue to…Read More→

In the San Francisco Bay Area, office tenant improvement costs have gone through the roof.  A few years ago, new carpeting and paint was $6-8/sf, now $12-15/sf.  Second generation space could be remodeled for $20-25/rsf just five years ago but now $50-60/rsf is required just to move a few walls, life-safety, Title 24 and minor…Read More→

Again and again, companies that can choose to locate to regions where there is plenty of low-cost office and research space, and where the cost of a new house is ridiculously cheap (i.e. under $250,000 for a decent home in a decent neighborhood) companies still choose to locate in the Bay.  Autonomous vehicle firm Aurora…Read More→

Using sensors and the new software analytics are helping companies to cut their office space by 30% or more.  Microsoft used this and “this has meant significant financial savings and it could mean Microsoft can make further consolidations that save it tens of millions of dollars.”  Bisnow.com July 2019

According to a new 2019 National Office Absorption report just out by CoStar, net absorption is down 26% Midwest, 18% South, 9% in the West, but up 2% in the Northeast. No reasons for this given perhaps continued increases in productivity, corporate downsizing and offshoring/outsourcing?  Here in the Bay Area, especially San Francisco, companies are…Read More→