Amazon update: Second headquarters development and the area’s housing market
Washington Post
By Michele Lerner
November 20, 2020
When Amazon announced in November 2018 that Arlington, Va., would be the site for its second headquarters outside of Seattle, it set off a frenzy of real estate speculation. Two years and a pandemic later, the housing market around Amazon’s second headquarters and National Landing remains heated. But not necessarily because of Amazon.
“In November 2018, there was a big spike in prices and lots of speculation about what Amazon would mean to Arlington, Crystal City and Potomac Yards,” said Dawn Wilson, a real estate agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in Arlington. “Investors wanted to buy everything, especially condos. But that died down a lot in 2019. We saw a small spike in closings in those neighborhoods again in February and March of 2020, but once the pandemic hit there was a big dip all over the DMV for a few months.”
Sales and prices jumped again in May in the area surrounding the headquarters, said Wilson, but that’s the same across the board throughout the region.
The housing market around the site has changed since the announcement of the new headquarters two years ago in the wake of the pandemic, said Danielle Hale, chief economist of Realtor.com.
“Reflecting the nuance we’ve seen in other major metros, the mix of homes available for sale has shifted, with more condominiums and townhouses coming up for sale at a time when many buyers are shifting their attention to the additional space that single-family homes provide,” said Hale in a Realtor.com report. “This corner of Northern Virginia remains a difficult real estate market to enter, but with remote work prompting some to look further away from dense urban cores, those seeking to snag a condo near the Metro just a short commute from HQ2 may find it’s a bit easier to do so than in the last couple of years.”
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