Google's New Boulder Campus and More [Weekend Reading]

by Osman Parvez

Ready for some weekend reading? Here's a quick roundup of interesting real estate tidbits for your reading pleasure. 

1. Google's new Boulder Campus gains preliminary approval. This is a huge deal. Once constructed, the new facility will allow Big G's Boulder employee base to grow to around 1,500 people. The impact to Boulder housing will be substantial, particularly at the mid range of the market. Here's why.  

Most of these employees will make too much to qualify for affordable housing and yet not have enough resources to take down $1MM+ homes. That means the mid range is not going to get a break. If you haven't noticed - the market is already plagued by scarce inventory and bidding wars. The mid range in particular is a place of no-holds barred, bare fisted negotiations and occasional shady pocket deals. It's going to get worse. Of course, some of these people will rent but like most, they'd rather own a home than pay the landlord's mortgage. 

2.  More Jobs and Higher Wages: U.S. Recovery Starts to Hit Home. No surprise - the economy keeps gaining steam, particularly the job market. Talent and capital are mobile, particularly on the upswing of an economic cycle. Where does talent and capital want to move? To places worth living. Know anyplace like that?

3.  Think young people are going to stop moving to Boulder because it's so expensive? If you've lived here long enough, I'm sure you've heard that. Guess again -> Choose One, Millennials:  Upward Mobility or Affordable Housing. "The paradox of the American Dream: The best cities to get ahead are often the most expensive places to live, and the most affordable places to live can be the worst cities to get ahead."

4.   Roommates are a rising trend. The numbers have risen sharply and it's at all age brackets. Just in case you didn't know, Boulder has a limit on unrelated people renting together. The rule is no more than 3 unrelated people per housing dwelling and the city just added two new full time employees for oversight. Reading this piece, I was surprised that a 1 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn now rents for an average of $2,600 per month. Boulder looks cheap by comparison. 

5.  Graph of the week: Has the new bubble really begun? Compared to the last bubble, housing still looks cheap. via Seeking Alpha  
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image credit:   Szonyi Istvan via Free Parking