|
In This Issue --SFCED Update --Midyear Economic Indicators --SFO Continues Great News and Rankings --Investors in the News SFCED UPDATE United Airlines: Since our last newsletter, the SFCED, the Chamber, and the Mayor's Office pulled out the stops in pursuit of United Airlines' headquarters search. Although United has chosen to locate in downtown Chicago, we showcased San Francisco well, and can be proud of our presentation. We particularly thank the 60-plus members of the business community who stepped up and lent their support on very short notice! We're also proud that we continue to be home to more than 13,500 United jobs at SFO, and our enviable position as United's Asian hub. We're pleased to report that United is reinstating its daily nonstop service from SFO to Taipei, expanding its Seoul service from seasonal to year-round; and adding three more weekly flights to Hong Kong. This strong and important partnership between the City and United continues to expand. Biotech and Life sciences: Three new biotech companies are in the hunt for a San Francisco location, and the SFCED is working closely with them on their needs. Clean Green: The SFCED and the City's focus on the "clean green" technology sector is reinforced by Olivia Jenq's current work with two European solar companies. Retention Efforts: We are working with two "at risk" companies, who are considering leaving San Francisco for lower-cost alternatives. Outreach: The SFCED will be represented at the upcoming ACCE Conference in Cleveland, and at CORENET in November. Olivia Jenq continues to broaden the SFCED's relationships with international development agencies and site selectors from abroad looking for Bay Area locations. Collaboration: "City Summit," an economic development strategy for San Francisco, will be presented by the SFCED and the Chamber, in partnership with the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, on Tuesday, September 26 from 7:30 to 2:00 p.m. Mayor Newsom will unveil his economic strategy for San Francisco. Special thanks to SFCED investors Bank of America, for its lead sponsorship, and to PG&E and the San Francisco Business Times for their support and sponsorship. Call 352.8837 for details, or visit the Chamber website (www.sfchamber.com). ECONOMIC INDICATORS: In response to your requests, we will be supplying key economic data on a monthly basis. Please let us know if there are other indicators you would find helpful (kchung@sfced.org). Unemployment - San Francisco's unemployment rate has been steadily declining, after peaking at 7.7% in 2003. The City's current unemployment rate of 4.1% is well below California's unemployment rate of 5%.
Building Permits - San Francisco issued 6,136 building permits from January 2006 to March 2006, an increase of 7.3%, reflecting 1,018 more permits than the same quarter a year ago.
Inflation (CPI) - San Francisco's CPI is currently 208.9 (1984=100). The past 5 years have shown that the cost-of-living in San Francisco has become comparable to other Western urban regions.
Home Sales and Prices - San Francisco and Bay Area home prices continue to rise, while home sales compared to the same month last year have slowed. However, home sales in San Francisco are down by 9.8 percent, compared to a declining Bay Area average of 24 percent over a year ago. According to Marshall Prentice, president of DataQuick," The market is definitely slowing but can only be considered 'slow' when compared to the hot market of 2004 and 2005. In reality, today's market is pretty normal and balanced, right between the grim times of 1993 to 1995 and the frenzies of 1999 and 2004-2005."
Apartment Occupancy and Rental Rates - After reaching occupancy lows in 2002 and 2004, San Francisco's apartment market has been steadily rebounding. As of the second quarter of 2006, the average occupancy rate for market-rate apartments in San Francisco was about 96.3%, just slightly higher than the same period in 2005. However, average rental rates jumped about 8.5% from last year to an average of $1,972 per unit per month in 2006.
SF Office Market Continues to Tighten San Francisco's overall vacancy rate continues to fall, dropping to 13.9%, down from 14.8% last quarter and 17.3% one year ago. The Central Business District (CBD) Class A sector also continued to strengthen, dropping from 13.8% last quarter to 12.7%, its lowest mark since third quarter 2001. Accompanying the vacancy decrease are rental increases. The current average Central Business District rate is $39.36 compared to $28.50 in the second quarter of 2005. For more detailed information, visit http://www.sfced.org/pdf/2Q06.pdf Source: Cushman & Wakefield Travel and Leisure Ranks San Francisco Among World's Best Travel and Leisure magazine's World's Best Awards 2006 named San Francisco the 2nd best city in the United States, with New York edging us out by only a half-point. San Francisco also received 10th place in the "Top Cities Overall" category, a worldwide ranking. Florence, Italy was ranked the Top City Overall. The rankings were complied from surveys returned by subscribers to Travel and Leisure magazine. The rankings for each city accounted for sights, culture/arts, restaurants/food, people, shopping, and value. Expansion Management Ranks San Francisco in Top 10 Expansion Management magazine recently released its annual Quality of Life Quotient Ranking and honored San Francisco in the Best Continuing Education Opportunities category and the Best Commercial Air Access category. San Francisco was ranked 6th in the Best Continuing Education Opportunities Category and 5th in the Best Commercial Air Access Category. SFO CONTINUES UPWARD CLIMB #1 Airport in North America SkyTrax, a leading research advisor to the airline industry, named SFO as the Best Airport in North America. More than 7 million travelers participated in the survey, which took into account more than 40 aspects of a traveler's experience. Wins FAA Partnership Award SFO received the FAA Partnership Award for providing leadership in the use of technology to improve on-time performance. SFO started using the Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approach (SOIA) in 2004, which increased the arrival rate from 30 planes per hour to 38 planes per hour in poor weather conditions. More Flights, More Passengers-Less Waiting in Line April can be the cruelest month, but not for SFO. Despite stormy weather, SFO handled 5.4% more travelers compared to April of 2005. In June, a USA Today study also found that SFO had the lowest percentage of security lines that took more than 10 minutes. INVESTORS IN THE NEWS A major thank you to Lynn Bunim and AT&T for once again sponsoring our Fall Legislative Forum, which honors federal, state and local officials for their work and advocacy in the economic development area. A firm date and details will follow soon. Thank you to Mary Huss and the San Francisco Business Times for showcasing the SFCED in their hugely successful "2006 Structures" program. top>> |
| This email was sent
by: %%Member_Busname%% %%Member_Addr%% %%Member_City%%, %%Member_State%%, %%Member_PostalCode%%, %%Member_Country%% Update Profile 
|