In 6 months, the world arrives at the 5-year anniversary of COVID-19 hitting domestic shores. It’s been a rocky road, to say the least. In many ways it caused a massive reshuffling of the deck of modern life.
The last 5 years brought about massive changes politically, economically, and socially. In those darkest hours many questioned the viability – and desirability – of the world’s most influential urban cities.
Seattle was no exception.
Seattle was not only on the Hit List of “cities non-grata” – it was nearly at the bullseye.
Although I never lost faith, today we have clear signals that Seattle will soon regain its status as one of the most economically viable – and desirable – cities in the world.
The following topics highlight the 5 Reasons Seattle Wins:
- Employment Opportunities
- The Future of Technology
- Affordability
- Lifestyle
- Climate Resilience
Employment Opportunities
Seattle continues to attract and retail the most innovative, fasting growing, and exciting companies in the world. Other highly desirable cities – New York , San Francisco, Los Angeles – remain options, yet increasing they lose points (and people) based on the other factors discussed in this post.
[insert graphic from corporate marketing of all key employers in the region]
The aggregation and cross-pollination of these employers powers a massively powerful, durable, and resilient technology ecosystem.
Seattle Technology Ecosystem
Source: Startup Genome
Seattle’s own Amazon.com continues to set the global pace for innovation, and just this week announced its plan to continue its innovative ways by mandating a return to the 5-day work week. This announcement sets the tone for a return to pre-pandemic normalcy – and growth – in Seattle’s thriving downtown.
The Future of Technology
Although we are not currently seeing it in technology hiring, spending by the FAANG – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google – cohort is staggering. This spending will invariably lead to hiring to build, deploy, and sell AI products related to this spending.
Notice the interesting coincidence between the geographies of these big spenders?
Such hiring will be centered around Seattle and the Bellevue-Redmond corridor.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
For a deeper dive to understand what’s behind this spending spree, check out this fantastic Geekwire article.
Affordability
The affordability equation continues to favor the Seattle/Bellevue region. Not only are salaries in our region competitive, but they are also not subject to the California state income tax topping out at a staggering 13.3%.
Housing Prices
Software Engineer Salary
Lifestyle
When I moved to Seattle 15 years ago, I used to say – compared to the San Francisco/Bay Area – “lifestyle amenities are half as good, yet twice a convenient”.
The convenience factor remains, yet the quality of lifestyle amenities gained miles of ground on cohort urban markets like San Francisco, Los Angeles’ Westside … and even Orange County, now that we have a thriving Bellevue.
Want to take to the water, sailing and the San Juan Islands are at your fingertips.
Amenities in local wine country, Woodinville, are quickly growing.
Local ski resorts remain a less than 2-hour drive, and the drive to world-class Whistler is on par with the traffic-ridden route to Lake Tahoe.
Climate Resilience
The future may not seem that far off, yet apartment investors planning a 10-year hold period are looking to sell into 2035. Planning a 15-year hold period, we are talking about 2040.
The future is not that far away when it comes to long-range investments.
According to this recent study by Policygenius, climate change is imminent and will have some definite winners and losers.
Source: Policygenius
Interestingly, if you were to rank these cities by rent growth post-COVID, the list of best-to-worst might flip exactly.
I’ll take the 10-year, 15-year, even 20-year bet on PNW over Florida every single time!
About Dylan Simon
I specialize in the sale of 50+ unit apartment buildings and apartment development land across Washington State. Our Team of 10 apartment sales professionals is dedicated to helping apartment owners and investors sell and buy apartment buildings and development land from $1 million to over $100 million.