Land Costs Propel Developers to Maximize Efficiencies

SAN FRANCISCO—SVN International Corp. recently announced the formation of SVN NorCal, a joint effort of seven of the firm’s Northern California offices to come together under one brand, offering collaborative services, tools and expertise. Collectively, SVN NorCal will assist real estate clients in sales, leasing, management and investments of office, industrial, retail and multifamily properties.

Participating offices are led by Paul Getty and Dinesh Gupta in San Jose, Catherine House, Deborah Quok and Kevin Chin in San Francisco, Don Ellwanger and Walter Helm in Sacramento, Gary Gustafson in San Rafael and John Williams in Novato. The firm is actively recruiting additional brokers.

In this exclusive, Getty shared some insights into the CRE activity in the Northern California market, current market trends and the repeal of Costa Hawkins.

GlobeSt.com: What market trends are at play within San Francisco and San Jose/?

Getty: A growing number of older rental property owners are selling and reinvesting in higher income-producing properties–often located outside of California. Many owners are growing tired of the hassles of managing rental properties and are concerned over the possible expansion of rent control that might occur if Costa-Hawkins is repealed on this fall’s ballot. The repeal of Costa Hawkins would allow cities to restrict permitted rent increases and wider range of rental properties. For many owners who are sitting on highly appreciated properties, fear of rent control is creating a trigger point to sell now.

Worsening traffic conditions throughout the Bay Area are accelerating the values of in-fill parcels as developers appear to be willing to offer increasing higher prices to acquire land closer to high-tech employers and transit corridors to build new residential units to meet growing demand.

Downtown San Jose is experiencing increased development, lower office vacancies and higher rents driven by the moves of tech giants into the area. Many new hotels are under construction to meet the growing demand of business travelers to the area.

GlobeSt.com: What makes Sacramento attractive for tenants and investors these days?

Getty: Office and industrial rents as well as per-square-foot purchase prices are also much less in Sacramento than the Bay Area.

The cost of living in Sacramento is 33% lower than San Francisco. Per NerdWallet, the median value of a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3,519 and only $1,718 in Sacramento. Per HSH.com last quarter, the median home price in the Sacramento MSA was $355,000 compared to $971,000 in San Jose and $1.373 million in the San Francisco metro area.

Redfin reported that Sacramento was the top destination of Bay Area residents looking to relocate.  Annual net migration numbers of 8,500 new residents indicate that Sacramento is gaining national notoriety for being an ideal place to live. This is significant as California is seeing an average of 105,000 residents leave the state every year.

Sacramento has excellent recreation options with two rivers, Lake Folsom and many parks. Its central location is good for transportation, being at the intersection of Interstate 80 and 5, and it is only 88 miles to San Francisco and 110 miles to Lake Tahoe.

Finally, one of the main draws to Sacramento is the almost complete revitalization of downtown. If you have not been in downtown Sacramento in the last five years, you would not recognize it. The addition of a downtown arena with its adjacent $1 billion mixed-use development and the numerous high-quality restaurants have greatly increased the draw.

Sacramento has a stable, diverse economy that is growing and is a great place to invest. Investors come to Sacramento for better returns. Due to the strong demand, Sacramento has led the nation in percentage apartment rental increases in the last few years and is projected to continue that trend for the next five, per Yardi.

GlobeSt.com: What type of timing is being targeted for long-term rebuilding of the areas in Santa Rosa affected by the fire?

Getty: The first home to be rebuilt in Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park was completed this May and home construction in the area is at its busiest pace in 10 years. Santa Rosa city officials are supporting efforts to add thousands of new units in coming years including high-density housing in the downtown area. The permit process has been streamlined to fast-track rebuilding permits, abolish city fees for debris removal and permit people to live in temporary housing as they rebuild. It is anticipated that Santa Rosa will experience an unprecedented era of new home construction in the years ahead.

GlobeSt.com: The Northern California CRE market is obviously bursting with activity. Other than synergies, what was the reasoning behind the alliance?

Getty: One of the major objectives for establishing the SVN NorCal alliance is to create more visibility for SVN differentiators, which include SVN’s unique culture and collaborative fee sharing policy. Combined, these increase our ability to create greater exposure for our clients’ properties by marketing their listings to the entire brokerage community. Ultimately, we achieve a higher value for their properties through increased competition. Another objective is to create a unified web presence that showcases the resources and capabilities of the offices that are part of SVN NorCal.

GlobeSt.com: Are plans in the works to include another active part of the Bay Area, the East Bay?

Getty: SVN is always seeking to expand into new Bay area locations. The East Bay is no exception.