Amazon plans to announce its second headquarters location later this summer, and a handful of finalist cities are eagerly awaiting the decision. Amazon declared 20 finalists in the running for its HQ2 site. Cities are making their best offers to the online retail giant. Amazon promises to add up to 50,000 new high-paying jobs and invest $5 billion in the local economy to the chosen host city. Amazon will continue to maintain its headquarters in Seattle as well.
Ahead of the announcement, ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate research firm, ranked 19 of the U.S. finalists (excluding Toronto). The finalists were ranked on the following seven factors: median home prices, five-year home price appreciation, affordability, average school test scores, crime rates, property tax rate, and environmental hazard risk.
The HQ2 finalist that emerged on top of ATTOM Data Solutions’ rankings: Raleigh, N.C. The area got a boost from its relatively affordable homes, above-average school scores, and below-average crime rates and property taxes.
“It’s striking that 16 out of the 19 markets have median home prices that are lower than the city of Seattle, which our data shows was $585,000 at the end of Q4 2017,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “The only exceptions are Boston, Los Angeles, and New York, indicating that Amazon is interested in markets that have relatively affordable housing for employees. At the end of the day, two of the most important factors for the decision will be finding a market with an ample supply of workers with the skills Amazon is looking for along with an ample supply of relatively affordable housing for those workers to live in. A market like Raleigh certainly has the affordable housing, and it also has an ample supply of skilled workers thanks to the several top-notch universities in the vicinity.”
Source: “Amazon HQ2 Finalists Ranked by Housing Market Health,” ATTOM Data Solutions (May 30, 2018)
