NEWPORT BEACH, CA—According to a RETS Associates survey, Silicon Valley, Orange County and San Francisco boasted the highest wage growth for real estate analysts from entry-level to five-to-seven years of experience in the country this year. The national real estate recruiting firm reports that, according to the findings of its sixth-annual survey of 290 real estate financial analysts with this level of experience—in association with Charles Schilke, JD, director at the Edward St. John Real Estate Program at Johns Hopkins' Carey Business School—analyst wages in Silicon Valley, Orange County and San Francisco surpassed those on the East Coast for the first time since the survey was implemented.

Silicon Valley experienced a 36.5% increase, Orange County a 10% increase and San Francisco a 9% increase in wages, the survey found. Los Angeles still maintained a significant growth rate of 5%, though the amount decreased slightly from 2016. Additionally, the Pacific Northwest reportedly experienced a 37.7% increase in starting-salary growth over the last two years, the highest nationwide.

Kent Elliott, principal of RETS, tells GlobeSt.com, “The continued confidence in and strength of the West Coast markets has required firms to staff accordingly and build out teams to accommodate future activity. Because of this, candidates in the West have the flexibility to field multiple offers, so firms must stay competitive from a wage perspective in order to secure top talent.”