High Prices, Growing Income Gap are Bay Area Headwinds

Starr, Hielscher, Evers and Price (L to R) provided color for the ULI/PWC Emerging Trends report.

SAN FRANCISCO—At Urban Land Institute’s recent Emerging Trends event covering the Bay Area, local real estate experts added color and detail to the annual study’s findings, including perspective on ever-rising office values, the shortage of housing and “hand-to-hand combat” in retail. An opening presentation of the ULI/PWC jointly produced report set the stage with research on the Bay Area’s rebound in rankings from a year ago.

In 2018, San Francisco ranked 41st in investment prospects and rocketed to 12th place this year while the San Jose/Silicon Valley market jumped from 26th to 13th this year. The Oakland/East Bay market, #30 overall, was the number one market for investing in office in the study’s buy versus hold versus sell rankings.