Arlington’s Housing Market On Fire After Amazon HQ2 Decision

ARLINGTON, VA—It should not be surprising that Arlington, VA,’s housing market is doing well after Amazon’s decision to locate its second headquarters there. What is surprising is the extent to which it is doing well, according to new figures by realtor.com.

Immediately following the November announcement, home sales jumped 50% year-over-year. To date, Arlington has seen six-figure (17%) median list price growth of $110,000 and a more than 40% drop in inventory.

“With a household name as big as Amazon moving into Arlington’s backyard, we expected that home prices were going to increase, but because the number of homes for sale is not keeping up with demand, the price growth we’ve witnessed so far in both the mid-market and luxury sector has been dramatic,” said Danielle Hale, realtor.com’s chief economist.

At the time of Amazon’s HQ2 announcement in November 2018, Arlington’s median home price was $640,000. The median home price in the area increased to $750,000 in April. Over the same time frame, the national median list price has only increased $17,000 or 5.5%.

The market, however, is unable to keep up with the overwhelming demand, realtor.com says. It found that after sales surged, the number of active listings was down 48.2%, to less than 400 listings in April—a huge year-over-year drop in inventory.

As the number of listings in Arlington dwindles, buyers are broadening their searches to surrounding markets, realtor.com reports. The number of active listings in the Northern Virginia area fell 22.5% since April 2018, and half of all homes sold rapidly in under 34 days. Meanwhile, median list prices were up 2.3% year-over-year, and reached $545,000 in April.

While Arlington’s mid-market is thriving, its luxury sector is faring even better. Luxury asking prices in Arlington—the top 5% of home prices—reached $2.4 million in April, up 22.1% year-over-year. At the same time, sales of million-dollar homes increased by 34.8%, according to realtor.com’s most recent sales data. Similarly, luxury prices in the surrounding area of Northern Virginia reached $1.6 million, up 10.5% year-over-year, while sales of million-dollar homes increased by 45.7%.