In all of our writings and comments for the benefit of the clients of Seattle Commercial Real Estate, we address various segments of the commercial real estate industry which are affected by the economy. We always are compelled to focus on the big names, like Amazon, Microsoft and Boeing. Let’s start right there. A recent article in the Seattle Times did this exactly and it is a good starting point.
The Big Three employ about 166,000 people with Boeing accounting for 69,800 of that number. The impact of this employment has yielded a Gross Domestic Product, adjusted for inflation of $81,000 per employee. That is far above the $57,652 figure nationally. If you compare this to $61,000 in San Diego, $63,000 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Phoenix at $45,000, we look really good. On the whole, and in comparison, to the Bay Area of California, we are cheaper, more highly educated, have a better environment and on and on.
But wait, look at the concentration of Tech Industries clustered around South Lake Union, the movement to Bellevue for a quick example. How about headquarters for giants such as Alaska Air, Costco, Expediters Intl., Starbucks….you get the idea. Don’t forget health. In 2018 the UW won $1.3 Billion in grants. Oops, don’t forget our maritime port industries, add in trade, 53,000 members of the military and tourism. Did we forget to mention Venture Capital funding, the Gates Foundation and the rest of our university system?
The professionals at Seattle Commercial Real Estate watch for, monitor, and use our backgrounds to assist our clients in fulfilling their investment and business priorities in real estate. We are aware and we are on top of it.
