Apple’s “spaceship” campus is undergoing $700 million in new construction.
A continued blitz of commercial and industrial development in Santa Clara County has pushed the area’s property values upward for the fourth straight year. According to the county assessor’s office, the total value of properties in Santa Clara jumped an additional 8% last year to $419 billion.
The San Jose Mercury News noted the report is just the latest example of the overall economic health of the Silicon Valley. The cities with the highest growth in property values were the same as last year. The group includes Mountain View, Santa Clara, Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Conversely, there were several jurisdictions that showed growth lower than the county average. These include San Jose and Campbell.
One of the most revealing portions of the report on property values in Santa Clara was the continuing rise in commercial and industrial development. Assessor Larry Stone noted those projects accounted for about 85% of the property value increases in new construction.
“That’s the statistic that really shot out at me,” Stone told the Mercury News. “And you’re seeing it all over: office buildings, R and D facilities, one after another. This is significant.”
Examples of this growing trend includes $700 million worth of new construction at Apple’s “spaceship” campus, which brings its total value to $1.6 billion. Samsung is also adding new construction to its North American headquarters in San Jose, further adding to the property values in Santa Clara County.
As for residential real estate in Silicon Valley, home prices have continued their unabated rise due to high demand and low supply. However, Stone and Rick Smith of the Santa Clara Association of Realtors both told the Mercury News the residential real estate market may finally be normalizing. This should be encouraging news for those considering buying a home in Silicon Valley.