Property Investment Spotlight: Dublin, CA

Dublin California holds that remarkable distinction of having more than doubled its size in the past ten years. It’s been a remarkable story of growth and prosperity and that prosperity extends far beyond the city’s nominal borders to affect other communities like Livermore and Pleasanton that share many of the same characteristics. Home prices in Dublin also reflect some of that prosperity. It’s not a miracle city, but it is still a hotspot in Alameda County and in the East Bay more generally.  It’s also among the most expensive home markets in the state.

Median home values are at about $745,000 and values are increasing. Dublin came through the great recession with remarkably low foreclosures and has better than held its own since then. And delinquent mortgages are well below the national average (4.8%) at about 1.2%.  

With about 56,000 year round residents, median household incomes hover right around $115,236. It’s almost exclusively a city of professionals and managerial workers. Of course, commuting to Silicon Valley is not out of the question, and those workers are also reflected in the city’s demographic profile. Much more than in many similar sized cities, Dublin is also full of young single workers. It’s also a widely diverse community with nearly 26% of the population born in another country.

Importantly, a wealthy city like Dublin can also charge a premium for monthly residential rentals. The numbers of apartments, condos or free standing homes on the market at any given time almost never exceed the sale homes on the same market, and so it is very much a buyer’s market. Most rentals properties remain in a few larger developments but there are exceptions and for private homes the market is particularly strong.  About 38% of Dublin’s total number of households rent rather than own their homes. That number is also likely to grow as the city grows.

With its streamlined business permitting process taking at least some of the credit for its rapid growth, the city is also attracting new business investment and is expected to continue growing for the near future. With two BART stations connecting even to San Francisco, and the confluence of Interstates 580 and 680 making it an ideal starting point for the South Bay, Dublin prospects for continued growth look very good.

Of course, multiple new developments are being built and the city expects to welcome a population of about another 20,000 to 30,000 residents over the mid-term future as new housing stock comes onto the market. Most of this is out of the planning stages.

In every case, any financial investment requires a careful examination of risk and benefits that should only be discussed with your financial planner and your trusted sources. There’s probably not a lot that can go wrong in Dublin, but the continued drought emergency and some concerns on the macro level always mean you want to proceed with caution and careful planning yourself.