The Amazon Effect on Real Estate in the Fairlington Community in Arlington, VA

Fairlington is one of my personal favorite communities in Arlington, Virginia, the soon to be new home to one of Amazon’s Headquarters. This community stands to see some buzz over the promised increase in the area’s employment due to Amazon’s relocation to the area.  Fairlington is a condominium community with family friendly amenities and lovely tree lined streets. Many of the units have been magnificently upgraded and renovated to appeal to the open concept loving crowd. This well-established community is large and sees significant turnover and rental activity. Something very interesting to note is that inventory is nearly non-existent for sale currently. I’m noticing a 27% drop in sales activity this spring with homes going under contract in a week or less. Prices are up about 4% since the Amazon announcement; however, the lack of inventory for sale while there is a surplus of available rental units is the story. I am noticing that rental homes available in Fairlington have seen a 28% increase since Amazon’s announcement. In addition, there is a 2% rental price decline since Amazon has announced its relocation to Arlington.  I find this an interesting correlation. I believe would be sellers are holding on to their Fairlington Homes betting on the Amazon bump in prices further down the line, when Amazon is up and running full swing.

Amazon just announced that it is beginning building its new headquarters in Arlington. They also announced that their first round of hiring for the new headquarters will begin at the end of this year. They are anticipating hiring 400 people in 2019 with a projected addition of 1,000 jobs in the Northern Virginia area in 2020. The remaining 25,000 jobs will come over the course of 10 to 12 years. The question remains, will Amazon employees in the future drive real estate prices significantly upwards in Fairlington?