ARLINGTON, Va. — As Amazon cuts the ribbon on its HQ2 in Arlington, WUSA9 takes a look at whether or not the region is seeing the "Amazon Effect."
Data-wise, it's difficult to directly tie many changes in the region to Amazon, but housing prices can serve as an example to analyze.
Arlington County shared data from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
WUSA9 focused on May average selling prices, since the data is available for every month since Amazon announced its headquarters would be in Arlington in 2018 to 2023.
This data cannot prove an "Amazon Effect," because the county economist said the average prices are also impacted by other factors, like COVID, interest and mortgage rates, supply and demand, and each period could have different housing stocks.
With that in mind, May 2018 reports the average selling price at $666,802 in Arlington County.
In May 2023, the average selling price is up to $829,491.
The Arlington Economic Development agency shared the following information about other changes in the county the last few years:
- Employment impact:
- Arlington’s unemployment rate was 1.9% in April 2023 (most recent available). This is similar to Arlington’s unemployment rate in April 2022 of 1.8%
- There were 184,594 jobs in Arlington in Q4 2022 (most recent data available). This is a 2.5% increase from Q4 2021.
- 8,000+ corporate and tech jobs assigned to Met Park
- 2.1 million square feet of new commercial space
- 50,000 (of the total 2.1 M) square feet for (retail, restaurant and services) consisting of 14 local small businesses
- $161 million in donations and cash grants to local nonprofits and charitable organizations
- 2.5 acres of public park space
Another post-pandemic push has been getting workers back in buildings.
Amazon will require employees be in the office for at least three days a week.
The National Landing Business Improvement District, where Amazon is located, said that will help with office utilization.
The BID shared data showing a 72% utilization rate for the National Landing area, which is higher than multiple other large cities, including DC.
Numbers aside, small business owners are feeling the Amazon excitement about the anticipated Amazon Effect.
"Amazon is still bringing a lot of excitement to the area and really helping build a new community here," District Dogs Owner, Jacob Hensley said.
Amazon cuts the ribbon on its HQ2 at 11 a.m. Thursday.