A 633% Increase: Home Sales Skyrocket in Northern Virginia Following Amazon Announcement

• December 12, 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

The Amazon Effect in the Northern Virginia real estate market appears to be quite real.  

Prior to the announcement that Amazon would split its second headquarters between Queens and Northern Virginia, UrbanTurf observed that rumors of the online giant's arrival hadn't impacted the housing market in places like Crystal City (one-third of the National Landing neighborhood where the headquarters will be located). However, new data shows that buyer activity skyrocketed following the official announcement.

Twenty-two homes went under contract last month in the zip code* that includes Crystal City and Pentagon City, a staggering 633 percent increase compared to a year ago. The number of new pending sales rose by 121 percent year-over-year. In Arlington and Alexandria counties, new pending sales rose by a respective 46 and 39 percent. 

Inventory felt the effect of this buyer rush. The number of homes on the market in this zip code fell by 85 percent in November. As for home prices, it is too early to ascertain the direct impact that the HQ2 announcement had on real estate values, but we might know more a month from now.

Whether this was a blip or the beginning of a trend is anyone's guess, but UrbanTurf will continue to monitor the activity in this section of Northern Virginia. 

*The 22202 zip code encompasses Crystal and Pentagon Cities; there is too little available housing in Potomac Yard, which is outside of this zip code, to draw any conclusions.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/a-633-percent-increase-home-sales-skyrocket-in-northern-virginia-following-/14797