On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it has selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia, as the locations for the company’s new headquarters. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington. The new locations will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America. In addition, Amazon announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs.
The impact of HQ2 in both these regions will be felt acutely on housing too. According to a recent Redfin report, since the news of New York and Crystal City, Virginia being the final two cities where Amazon would set up shop broke, its agents in both these regions were reporting noticeable jumps in calls, emails, and tour requests from prospective homebuyers.
"Online views of homes currently for sale in Crystal City and Long Island City on Redfin.com have skyrocketed," the report said. In the first 11 days of the month, views of homes for sale in Long Island City were up 794 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Views of listings in Crystal City were up 210 percent year over year."
"The population growth resulting from today’s HQ2 win will have a smaller impact on the New York City housing market overall given the size of its population and the number of jobs in the area," said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist, Realtor.com. "Shortly following the announcement, we can expect a jump in rents and home prices in the immediate surrounding area and places within commuting distance such as Sunnyside, where the median listing price $421,000; Jackson Heights, with a median of $400,000; Greenpoint, with a median of $1,395,000; Court Square, with a median of $1,122,000; and Astoria with a median of $711,000."
In Northern Virginia, the arrival of HQ2 would mean a spike in home prices in the region. According to Hale, residents in this region can expect a jump in home prices where the median price in Arlington County and Alexandria "already exceeds $600,000, and a ripple effect throughout the broader Northern Virginia area, where the median price is $510,000."
“HQ2 will have a tremendous impact on job growth in Arlington and areas within easy commuting distance including Alexandria, southern Fairfax County in Virginia and neighboring areas of the District and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Its close proximity to the metro will help distribute growth throughout the D.C. area and mitigate HQ2’s impact on traffic and road conditions. Residents can expect a jump in home prices in Northern Virginia," she said.