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>I know folks like to point at the big techcos in the area being flush with cash as evidence this can continue a long time. And in a vacuum, wage growth in tech

>I know folks like to point at the big techcos in the area being flush with cash as evidence this can continue a long time. And in a vacuum, wage growth in tech could continue to keep pace, perhaps. But that is 300k in appreciation a year. It's not even about people on tech salaries at this point. Those people are being priced out of the market, too. It's an issue of foreign investment mainly from China either speculating on the market, or investing their money in the only way they can given that personal property does not exist in their country.

acchow 9y ago
Have evidence of this?
- zxcmx 9y ago
  You will find it hard to unearth genuine evidence to either support or disprove this hypothesis. Got anything against? Usually you will find the data you might want is "not collected". It is not in anyone's interest to figure out how much bubbles are propped up by foreign money.
  - acchow 9y ago
    > Got anything against? I live in San Francisco. No one I know has any belief about any units being unoccupied. All the Chinese people I meet here are working. It is unlike the anecdotes I hear from friends living in Vancouver.
    - mclehman 9y ago
      > All the Chinese people I meet here are working. To be fair, you wouldn't see Chinese individuals "unoccupying" units.
      - acchow 9y ago
        I mean to contrast with the Vancouver experience - lots of empty units, or units empty for many months of the year. When they go to Vancouver to visit, it's just for fun. They don't need to work, and don't work. You might meet them in public spaces and make friends with them, and find it surprising that they have so much money without needing to work.
- Bartweiss 9y ago
  (Not the same person, but:) if you want to look into this, vacancy rates are probably the place to start. In Vancouver, for instance, it's very clear. ~280,000 housing units, of which ~25,000 were recently found to be owned-but-unoccupied. Which doesn't mean international owners, but does mean housing is being used not to live in, or even to rent, but as a pure investment - with obvious consequences for the people actually living there. A very quick look doesn't turn up this number for San Jose, but it's the most obvious way to distinguish price hikes driven by capped housing and rising salaries from those driven by outside investment.
- stevenwoo 9y ago
  There are some recent articles about California in general: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Chinese-investment-in-U-S-plunges-with-big-12819680.php?t=cebf19eb92 https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Chinese-investment-i... and inexpensive areas in California being bought up for mafia marijuana grow houses (which seems incredible in that it's much cheaper in the midwest to buy homes but here we are) http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article207938184.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article207938184.html

acchow 9y ago

Have evidence of this?

zxcmx 9y ago
You will find it hard to unearth genuine evidence to either support or disprove this hypothesis. Got anything against? Usually you will find the data you might want is "not collected". It is not in anyone's interest to figure out how much bubbles are propped up by foreign money.
- acchow 9y ago
  > Got anything against? I live in San Francisco. No one I know has any belief about any units being unoccupied. All the Chinese people I meet here are working. It is unlike the anecdotes I hear from friends living in Vancouver.
  - mclehman 9y ago
    > All the Chinese people I meet here are working. To be fair, you wouldn't see Chinese individuals "unoccupying" units.
    - acchow 9y ago
      I mean to contrast with the Vancouver experience - lots of empty units, or units empty for many months of the year. When they go to Vancouver to visit, it's just for fun. They don't need to work, and don't work. You might meet them in public spaces and make friends with them, and find it surprising that they have so much money without needing to work.
Bartweiss 9y ago
(Not the same person, but:) if you want to look into this, vacancy rates are probably the place to start. In Vancouver, for instance, it's very clear. ~280,000 housing units, of which ~25,000 were recently found to be owned-but-unoccupied. Which doesn't mean international owners, but does mean housing is being used not to live in, or even to rent, but as a pure investment - with obvious consequences for the people actually living there. A very quick look doesn't turn up this number for San Jose, but it's the most obvious way to distinguish price hikes driven by capped housing and rising salaries from those driven by outside investment.
stevenwoo 9y ago
There are some recent articles about California in general: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Chinese-investment-in-U-S-plunges-with-big-12819680.php?t=cebf19eb92 https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Chinese-investment-i... and inexpensive areas in California being bought up for mafia marijuana grow houses (which seems incredible in that it's much cheaper in the midwest to buy homes but here we are) http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article207938184.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article207938184.html