Savills, one of the world’s leading property agents founded in 1855 with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, recently crowned New York as the number one Tech City in the world in its 2019 Tech Cities Index.
Savills measured 30 cities around the world against 100 individual metrics to determine which cities would make the most successful homes for tech and startup companies. Savills utilized six Index categories in making its determinations:
- Business Environment
- Investment
- Size of finance and business services sectors
- Ease of starting a business
- R&D/innovation
- Physical linkages
- Cost of doing business (taxes, regulations, pay)
- Tech Environment
- Access to venture capital
- Size/value of tech sector
- Tech infrastructure
- Tech engagement
- City Buzz and Wellness
- City wellness
- City Buzz
- Cost of living
- Talent Pool
- Immigration and talent attractiveness
- City youthfulness
- Higher education accessibility
- Real Estate Costs
- Cost of renting commercial and residential properties
- Cost of co-working space
- Mobility
- Shared mobility services
- Metro system
- Quality of urban infrastructure
The Savills Tech Cities Index report states, “Tech cities are outperforming other global centers. GDP across the 30 Tech Cities is forecast to rise by 36% over the next decade, against a rate of 19% across other developed cities.”
Six US cities are ranked in the top 12 of Savills 2019 Tech Cities Index. In order, the top 12 are:
- New York City
- San Francisco
- London
- Amsterdam
- Boston
- Singapore
- Los Angeles
- Austin
- Stockholm
- Copenhagen
- Toronto
- Seattle
All of the cities in the remaining 30 spots are outside of the US.
The cost of real estate and affordability play key, but not singular, roles in the Savills 2019 Tech Cities Index. Among the 30 cities, the average cost of weekly mainstream residential rent is $350. The average monthly co-working (a desk in a private office) cost is $590.
San Francisco, ranked 27th in terms of real estate costs, had the highest weekly and monthly costs at $720 and $1,050 respectively. San Francisco residential rents have grown faster than capital values in the last decade, despite rent controls. New York City has more expensive real estate costs overall but renters there have more affordable rental options in other, easily commutable boroughs.
Here is the ranking among tech cities for real estate costs with an emphasis on US cities:
- New York City
– $520/week
– $950/month
- Hong Kong
– $450/week
– $750/month
- Tokyo
– $320/week
– $740/month
- San Francisco
– $720/week
– $1,050/month
- Boston
– $510/week
– $970/month
- Austin
– $440/week
– $890/month
- Seattle
– $440/week
– $660/month
- Los Angeles
– $490/week
– $810/month
