Thriving technology companies are pushing up property prices in San Francisco as their employees move wholesale into this desirable city. It’s not just rank-and-file workers. Tech gurus are also getting in on the act, such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg who recently bought a $10 million house in the Mission District.
According to the State of California Labor Market Information Division, tech jobs increased by 27.2 per cent between December 2010 and December 2013. Fuelled no doubt by the tech revolution, San Francisco has become one of the USA’s most prosperous cities. In the wake of this revolution is a steady flow of expatriates on short- and long-term contracts who flock to San Francisco and its environs in pursuit of wealth and cyber fame. Jena Davis at Sotheby’s says the majority of her sales are to foreign nationals in tech and dot.com related sectors, for instance Facebook, Google and Zynga.
Despite winners and some losers – especially in the case of locals being priced out of once affordable neighbourhoods – the dot.com era has added economic value to the city. "In the desirability stakes, there is not one neighbourhood that is hotter than another for newcomers, be it the Marina, the Mission or Mid-Market," says Tom Tognoli of Intero Real Estate Services