NorCal’s commercial real estate fundamentals "are absolutely stunning," with 82% office rent growth since 2010, DTZ chief economist Kevin Thorpe said at the firm's recent 2015 forecast event at Yerba Buena. If NorCal’s global tech companies were a country, he says, they would have the 11th largest economy on earth. But housing affordability and supply is a major issue, with 382,500 jobs created but only 68,400 homes built in NorCal between 2012 and 2014.

Kevin says the local office sector is unlikely to overheat, and rents are still normalizing from the dot-com bust of the 1990s. The tech growth cycle still has legs and venture capital investment is surging, double from two years ago, he says, adding that you should keep your eye on the Fed’s tech pulse index, which can tell us what will happen in NorCal three to five months in advance.