The technology sector is a key driver of several commercial real estate markets, bringing well paid jobs that also means growth for the residential sector.
But while the big-league markets such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Toronto, and New York City remain dominant – adding the most tech sector jobs in the past 5 years - there is also growth ahead for smaller markets.
The latest talent market report from CBRE shows that just 15 of the top 50 markets analyzed registered an accelerated, two-year pace of tech job growth, down from 23 last year with smaller markets absorbing some of the talent.
These fast-growing “opportunity markets” are led by Tucson with a 90% increase in tech jobs over five years, while North of the border, Hamilton, Ont. posted a 52% gain and Waterloo gained 40%. Las Vegas was up 35%.
“The tech talent labor pool in the U.S. grew by 16% in the past five years, compared with an average of 9% for all U.S. professions. That type of growth can deplete even the deepest pools of qualified labor,” said Colin Yasukochi, Director of Research and Analysis for CBRE and co-author of the report. “Many of the opportunity markets offer quality labor pools that are untapped and have high growth potential. These markets can be ideal for small-scale operations, start-ups and tech jobs with non-tech employers like banks, media and services firms that comprise nearly two thirds of the tech labor pool.”
This year’s leaders
This year’s scorecard shows that The Bay Area and Seattle remain the two highest rated tech talent markets, respectively, and Toronto climbed one spot to No. 3 overall. Washington, D.C., and New York City – the top two regions for producing tech-degree graduates – round out the top five.
CBRE’s separate list of “momentum markets” that most accelerated their tech talent employment growth is led by Orlando with a 14.1 percentage point increase in growth rate, San Diego (+10.2) and Chicago (+8.0).
