Over the past several months, cities have battled it out to see who will be the home of Amazon’s planned second headquarters, and now Pro Teck says it may know which city will win.
According to CNN, Amazon received bids from 238 cities and regions throughout North America, all vying for their chance to be the online retail giant’s second home.
Amazon said that it expects to invest more than $5 billion and plans to grow its second headquarters into a “full equal” to Amazon’s current headquarters in Seattle. Amazon also expects to create as many as 50,000 “high-paying jobs” for the selected area.
The company recently revealed the 20 finalists for its second headquarters, commonly referred to as Amazon HQ2.
This will be good news for homeowners in the winning city, but means housing could become even more unaffordable for homebuyers as it is expected to drive local housing demand up 25%.
Now, of the final 20 cities Amazon shortlisted, Pro Teck’s Valuation Services Home Value Forecast analyzed that the new frontrunner could be Northern Virginia, or more specifically, Fairfax, Virginia.
Pro Teck’s analysis shows this community may be well-positioned to receive the 50,000 new jobs expected with HQ2. Not only does the area have a promising housing market and well-educated workforce, but it is also near the Washington D.C. home of Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
“Today, assuming a geographic preference for the D.C. metro, we now believe Bezos will settle HQ2 in the Fairfax, VA, area,” said Tom O’Grady, Pro Teck Valuation Services CEO. “It already has been chosen as Amazon Web Services HQ2 — might as well make it HQ2.2.”
Whatever the company decides, it may be a while before more is known since Amazon is insisting the cities on its shortlist for its second headquarters keep quiet about their bids with the e-commerce giant.
And a recent analysis by the Wall Street Journal puts Dallas, Texas, at the top of the list for its “large tech labor force and middle-of-the-road ranks for nearly everything else.”
