They're paying 4% above average (and that's the 2016 average - prices may be higher in 2018). The average likely includes a range far greater than 4% depending on the properties involved.
Google is clearly not paying anything remotely describable as "shockingly high".
I’ll get more downvotes for this, but 4% when billions are involved is a shocking amount of money. In this case, that’s roughly $80 million - enough for Eric Schmidt to buy another G650.
The same link I posted said the average increased 7% YOY. If that kept up in 2017, Google just paid below average. But hey, maybe you're a better negotiator than Google's team of real estate experts and lawyers.
$80M probably isn't even a shocking number to a company who made $12,660M profit last year.
They're paying 4% above average (and that's the 2016 average - prices may be higher in 2018). The average likely includes a range far greater than 4% depending on the properties involved.
Google is clearly not paying anything remotely describable as "shockingly high".