Move over Seattle, the cities on the Eastside of Lake Washington are touted to be the next big thing in terms of tech jobs and real estate developments. The tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google are all planning major expansions in Seattle’s Eastside cities.  An estimated 50,000 high paying tech jobs could be created in Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland,  within the next few years. Such an influx of high paying tech jobs in the area could spur a real estate frenzy according to Redfin. Properties are expected to be worth substantially more than what they are currently worth today.

So who will create these new jobs, where will they be, and how many are expected? Let’s break it down to see:

Microsoft

Redmond is home to Microsoft’s headquarters which currently houses almost 50,000 employees. In November of 2017, Microsoft’s president Brad Smith, announced a massive expansion and overhaul of its main campus. The project, once completed, expects to add 2.5 million square feet of office space and create a further 10,000 jobs. Construction started in fall of last year. Full details of the expansion can be found on Microsoft’s official website.

Amazon

Amazon recently pulled out of its HQ2 plans for New York and with Amazons turbulent relationship with Seattle’s city council, Bellevue appears to be on Amazons sights for its next major expansion. If reports are true, Bellevue could prosper extremely well where Seattle and New York are set to lose out. According to Refin, Amazon has already leased more than 1 million square feet of office space in Bellevue to house nearly 7,000 employees and there’s speculation that it’s in talks to lease space that could fit more than 25,000 workers when everything is complete.

Facebook

Facebook already has a large presence in Seattle, but the company is increasingly expanding its operation on the Eastside. According to GeekWire, Facebook has signed two leases in downtown Bellevue estimating at around 85,000 square feet. Add this to the 338,000 square feet that Facebook have reportedly signed in Bellevue’s Spring district and Facebook is set to bring in approximately 2,500 high paying tech jobs to the region.

Facebook also owns Oculus rift, the Virtual Reality giant, who are currently undertaking a massive new development in Willows Road, Redmond. The development which is reported to be anything from 350,000 to 700,000 square feet could bring in up to 4,000 high paying tech jobs to the area.

Google

Google already has a campus in Kirkland but is eyeing up more expansions in Bellevue and Kirkland. According to GeekWire, the search giant is taking 80,000 square feet at a building in Bellevue called One Twelfth @ Twelfth, with plans to lease another 30,000 square feet. This is set to add around 600 high paying tech jobs to Bellevue. The Puget Sound Business Journal also reported that Google is rumored to buy up the large Kirkland Urban development which has around 600,000 square feet of office space and could create up to 3,500 high paying tech jobs in Kirkland.

Bottom Line

Only considering the above mentioned tech giants, 50,000 high paying tech jobs are estimated to be introduced to the Eastside over the next few years. There are, however, many other tech companies such as Tableau, Wave and numerous startups looking to increase their presence on the Eastside. Considering that the Eastside does not have as much bad press about homelessness and gentrification that we are constantly hearing about Seattle, and given that tech companies are often blamed for these issues, it’s no wonder why the Eastside is becoming more and more attractive. Also given that for each high paying tech job, 6-7 jobs are created in the trickle down economy, the Eastside looks to be booming for the foreseeable future with some referring to it as the next Silicon Valley.

With such an influx of high paying jobs, properties on the Eastside are expected to be in high demand. Homes on the Eastside are still affordable at the moment but this will not last long. So if you are thinking of buying, now is the time to act before properties become considerably more expensive.

Contact me today and lets discuss your options of owning a property on the Eastside.