What Is the Impact of the Technology Boom on Housing in San Francisco?

• Main Author: Herlihy, Ina
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2014
• Subjects: San Francisco; technology; tech boom; housing regulation; housing supply; historic; housing demand; real estate; home ownership; Seattle; Economics; Real Estate; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/433; http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1432&context=scripps_theses

Many San Francisco residents who have achieved new wealth from the expansion of the technology industry are paying record high prices for homes. But the city is landlocked and has a limited housing supply. I study the impact of the technology boom on the increase of housing prices in the city and the outflow of the middle class, by analyzing housing supply and demand, regulations, neighboring towns, home ownership, and housing price potential solutions. I find that the increase in technology jobs creates an employment multiplier effect, decrease in housing supply, increased competition and all-cash offers, and income inequality. Policymakers and activist neighborhood groups need to focus on continually increasing housing supply through dense development incentives and legalizing in-law units.