Lots of office, retail, hotel and residential projects underway in the city of Santa Clara. Every little bit of new inventory helps if you’re looking to rent/buy.
Anecdotally, a couple weeks ago, I spent some time reading hotel/motel review websites of budget to mid priced properties from San Jose up to Palo Alto along El Camino Real and the 101. The great majority of properties where rooms are $125/night or less get poor reviews. Common themes are lack of cleanliness, unsavory clientele, indifferent customer service by owner/managers, dated rooms, etc.. It seems like one needs to spend $200 a night to get a room in a newer-built or clean property with a caring owner/manager. These 40+ year old properties can’t be paying that much yearly property tax to justify around $100/night. Based on the reviews of some of these properties, it doesn’t seem like computer engineers are staying there and nor are regular tourists or people in town visiting family/friends. Maybe people who can’t afford a regular apartment or who don’t have good credit are staying in these motels. So the boom in housing prices is probably translating to higher motel rates too.
