Google has broken into the real estate industry.

Convinced that a big market still exists for bargain-seekers, the tech giant launched a mortgage calculator and recently debuted a new mortgage comparison feature. “Google predicted that nearly one in two borrowers still don’t shop around for their mortgage and set up the tool to help people make ‘more informed financial decisions.’ It said that it would be rolled out to more U.S. states after launching in California,” CNBC reported.

Disrupting real estate

The consequences could be substantial, increasing already hot competition among California sellers. Now, “people interested in the California real estate market can use Google to browse over 300 mortgages from more than 75 different lenders for their house hunting,” according to Time. “Note that Google is limiting its services to that of a broker, not a lender,” the magazine added. “In order for the service to be free to consumers, Google says it is ‘compensated by mortgage lenders’ without endorsing any lender in particular.”

For that reason, the company has tapped several big, recognized industry leaders for key partnerships. “Powering Google Compare for mortgages will be Zillow Group and LendingTree, both of which announced Monday that they will be partnering with Google to provide mortgage information to the search engine monolith,” Housingwire noted. “According to Zillow, lenders who use Zillow Group Mortgages for their marketing efforts will now have their rates, ratings and reviews prominently displayed on both ‘the world’s most popular search engine’ and ‘the most visited real estate media network in the country.'” LendingTree added that, “after users provide a few additional pieces of information, such as loan amount and home value, Google will display relevant mortgage rates from LendingTree and other lending partners.”

Burning up or burning out?

California’s real estate outlook has become increasingly complex. While some regions have experienced sluggish growth, if any, the housing market in many urban areas has been robust, and in Silicon Valley it has remained exceptional. “Speaking to members of the Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun likened Silicon Valley to Florence during the Renaissance period,” the San Jose Mercury News reported. “Is Silicon Valley’s housing market experiencing a bubble? Are homes prices overpriced? Yun admitted he does not know, but he believes the momentum will likely continue as Google, Facebook, Yahoo and other tech companies and start-ups here continue to grow, innovate and produce results,” the paper added.

Despite a surge of big technology investment in real estate in and around Los Angeles, the broader housing market in Southern California has not performed nearly as well. CoreLogic analyst Andrew LaPage said, “Southern California home sales lost steam in October, dipping more than usual from September,” according to CNBC. “Sales remain constrained by a tight inventory of homes for sale and lower affordability,” he observed. Even setting aside tech buying, Los Angeles real estate had been on a tear. “Tight inventory kept home prices on the rise,” with the city’s median home price climbing “5.8 percent from a year ago to $490,000,” CNBC noted. Eventually, a lack of inventory can slow markets even where sellers can turn a substantial profit.

The trend reflected a growing statewide challenge faced by those in the market for a home. “The percentage of homebuyers who could afford to purchase a median-priced, existing single-family home in California during the third quarter of 2015 slipped to 29 percent from the 30 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2015, and was flat from the 29 percent in the third quarter a year ago, according to a new report from the California Association of Realtors,” The Business Journal observed. “According to the CAR report, home buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $98,350 to qualify for the purchase of a $487,420 statewide median-priced, existing single-family home in the third quarter of 2015.”

Crowded beach

Snapchat, L.A.’s highest-valued startup, has typified the transformation. Undergoing another round of expansion, the social video company has Venice residents concerned there just isn’t enough room for all comers — or the neighborhood’s longtime population of more downbeat creatives. “Snapchat Chief Executive Evan Spiegel, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended Stanford University, said he chose Southern California to escape both corporate and Silicon Valley culture,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

But with Snapchat and other big companies snapping up real estate along Silicon Beach, some of the largest have already set their sights further south. “Google recently announced that it would expand its Southern California operations beyond Venice,” the Times noted, “to a massive new office park in Playa Vista with nine times more space.”

Playa Vista, a planned community once dominated by the Hughes Aircraft company, has welcomed the move. According to the Daily Breeze, “Google purchased a 12-acre plot of land in December for $120 million, and is rumored to have its eye on the 300,000-square-foot hangar that used to house the Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes’ infamous plane that boasts a record wingspan.” This summer, Yahoo’s 400 employees based out of Santa Monica will be shifted into new Playa Vista office space as well.

The sense of opportunity has extended as far south as Long Beach. Mayor Robert Garcia told the Times that his vision of a “Silicon Valley of the south” is “kind of a state of mind. It means Long Beach 3.0. It means being a city that embraces open data and embraces innovation.”

Multiple hubs

The Westside’s beachy coastline hasn’t been the only part of Los Angeles to attract top-rank tech attention. Firms have begun moving downtown, lured by lower rents and a new air of exclusivity. (Soho House reportedly signed paperwork to set up its second L.A. location in an Arts District building.) The growing list of tech-centric companies downtown now includes Hyperloop Technologies, the startup created to realize Elon Musk’s vision of an ultra-fast transportation system that would far exceed the capabilities of the high-speed rail embraced by Gov. Jerry Brown.

According to the LA Weekly, John Zanetos, senior vice president of CBRE Group Inc., took care of the leasing process for Hyperloop. “Downtown is the new, gritty, cool place,” he said — “a lot cheaper than Santa Monica or Venice.”

Local officials have warmed to the prospect of tech money and prestige anchoring downtown’s rapid development, even if it has meant giving a fair shake to projects that strike a sharp contrast with some of Gov. Brown’s favored policies. “Any idea that can get you from San Francisco to Los Angeles faster than it takes to get from downtown to Hollywood during rush hour is worth pursuing,” City Council member Jose Huizar told the Weekly, although he called Hyperloop’s plan “light-years ahead of most.”

Growth with limits

Despite the sky’s-the-limit attitude and booming real estate prices, however, some critics caution that the original Silicon Valley still maintains unmatched structural advantages.

As futurist and urban theorist Joel Kotkin argued recently, Silicon Valley’s appeal “to young companies was painfully evident in the decision this year by Oculus, a promising virtual reality firm, to move from Irvine to be close to its corporate buyer, Facebook, taking its top designers and executives to Menlo Park. It takes stubborn executives, like Snapchat’s co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, to say no to the moguls of Menlo Park and stay here in the Southland.”

Ultimately, however, tech’s future in and around Los Angeles may well be assured by the Southland’s ace in the hole — its climate and style of living. As the Associated Press reported, not only moguls have gravitated toward L.A.’s priciest mansions; mere millionaires looking to shell out comparatively less than the Bay Area’s tech titans have discovered their dollar can go much further in Silicon Beach than in Silicon Valley.