Austin Beats San Francisco in Savills’ Tech City Metrics
San Francisco may have cool startups and some of the biggest names in the technology business, but when compared with 11 other global cities with strong tech clusters, the city that is home to Silicon Valley under-performs in key metrics like business environment, quality of life and property prices, according to a new report by property consultants Savills.
Measured against five metrics, San Francisco came fifth on business environment; fourth on tech environment; second on quality of life; sixth on talent pool and 8th in property affordability.
Austin, Texas, came first in the overall ranking. “It’s got the talent,” said Paul Tostevin, lead research analyst for Savills.
Mr. Tostevin said there is “a herd effect” when it comes to living in San Francisco. “As the most established tech center, there is a large pre-existing pool of talent in San Francisco. For a company looking for experienced employees… this is the place to be,” he said.
Israeli-born Sagi Shorrer, co-founder of London-based Brainbow Ltd., developer of a brain-training app called Peak, said that while he’s happy in London, a move to San Francisco makes sense for his firm. Mr. Shorrer highlights proximity to venture capitalist, access to early adopters that test products, and top talent to recruit. However, he also sees some downsides, including cost of talent and office space. Still, San Francisco has a “strong appeal of course,” he said.
Amongst the 12 cities surveyed on four continents, Austin, which is a big student city, also has some of the youngest pool of talented people, Mr. Tostevin said. Tel Aviv, New York and Stockholm, each with its own growing tech sector, came third, fourth and fifth respectively in the overall ranking.
The survey pulled data on measures like business costs, talent pool and tech infrastructure from government statistics, population census and forecasts around age and population all the way through 2024....MORE
