The tech industry in Silicon Valley is increasingly moving south to Los Angeles according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. It is possible that established companies, as well as start-up technology firms, are getting fed up with the disparity of property prices between the two cities, where rental prices are 20-40% higher in San Francisco compared to Los Angeles.

When buying, the price per square metre is 10% higher in central San Fran than in central LA, but almost 40% higher in surrounding areas. Now, Silicon Valley executives are moving south in growing numbers, from long established technology strongholds like Santa Clara and Palo Alto, and are buying homes in Los Angeles instead.

As a result, property prices are soaring in the beachfront communities that the tech types favour , and rents in these areas are growing at a faster rate than in other parts of the city. More than 600 tech start-ups have sprung up in LA over the last few years, according to Represent.LA, an open-source project that tracks the growth of start-up communities.

A narrow, 3-mile strip of land that runs from Santa Monica through Venice, and is now stretching down to Playa Vista, has been dubbed ‘ Silicon Beach’ due to the heavy concentration of Internet companies now based there.