Amazon HQ2 in northern Virginia spurs real estate investment
Amazon is facing a new battle as it considers the next location of its second headquarters.
Activists and local officials in northern Virginia are now sounding the alarm about rising home prices in the region.
“Affordability has been a concern in northern Virginia, and the area as a whole, even before the Amazon’s news. It is a tight market and a competitive market,” Redfin real estate broker Brian MacMahon told FOX Business’ Connell McShane on Monday.
However, he admitted that Amazon’s announcement was an adrenaline shot into the market.
“With the Amazon news, we have a lot of people who were buyers getting ready to enter the market, who made that jump, because they saw this as an opportunity, MacMahon said.
The real estate broker recalled that investment fever late last year, saying, “When the announcement was made, we did see a huge push in terms of investors coming from both our market and outside of the market into the market, and those first time, second time move-up buyers as I mentioned before who were worried about the market pushing.”
Median home sale price jumped 11 percent in the county from October to January, according to Redfin’s analysis of Multiple Listing Service data. While homes in the larger Washington D.C. metro area dropped 3.8 percent during the same period. Both Redfin and Realtor.com officials largely attribute the price jump to Amazon.
However, MacMahon says, the market momentum has now slowed slightly as the area witnessing New York style pushback against Amazon’s presence.
“Listings are a little tight right now, but we are expecting an uptick, and I think it’s a lot of people who are waiting to see what’s happening with this first wave before making that decision.”
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He remains confident that Amazon will get through the final stage of approval.
“Everyone who I speak with, everyone I hear from in the market, they are pretty confident that Amazon is coming,” MacMahon added.
