It’s barely off the ground but Amazon HQ2 is already paying off for luxury homeowners in the Washington, D.C., suburb where the retail giant plans to establish a second headquarters.



The number of $1 million-plus home sales in Arlington County, Virginia, and luxury asking prices have soared since Amazon announced in November that it would open an outpost in Crystal City, a commercial area south of the Pentagon, according to data from realtor.com released Thursday.



Luxury homeowners have jacked up prices: The median luxury home, defined as the top 5% of listings, was asking $2.4 million in April, 22.1% more than a year ago.



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Meanwhile, $1 million home sales have boomed. In February, the most recent month complete data was available, sales of $1 million or more jumped 35% compared to the same month last year, according to realtor.com.

A shortage of listings has added to the pressure on home prices in the county. Inventory across all price points in Arlington County is about half what it was a year ago, dropping to only 400 listings.



“With a household name as big as Amazon moving into Arlington’s backyard, we expected that home prices were going to increase,” said Danielle Hale, realtor.com's chief economist. But because the number of homes for sale is not keeping up with demand, the price growth we’ve witnessed so far in both the mid-market and luxury sector has been dramatic.”



An apartment in Arlington, Virginia, asking nearly $4 million TTR Sotheby's International Realty

Arlington felt an immediate boost to the housing market in November, as its local economy readies to welcome 25,000 new high-paying jobs over the next decade. The company agreed to create 400 jobs by the end of this year with a target average wage of $150,000, according to an official memo between the various stakeholders.



The housing boom goes well beyond the high-end of the market. The county’s median asking price was $640,000 in November, the month the deal was announced, and has since increased by a whopping $110,000 or 17.3% to $750,000. By comparison, the national median asking price has increased a much more modest 5.5% over the same timeframe.



Amazon’s HQ2 was initially split between Crystal City and Long Island City, New York. But an impasse with local lawmakers over tax concessions to Amazon derailed the New York City expansion.



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Long Island City experienced a similar boom in real estate activity between November and February, when Amazon called off its New York plans, Mansion Global previously reported. But unlike Arlington, activity in Long Island City has since fizzled.



For now, Amazon said it won’t reopen its HQ2 search but will continue to grow across the 17 cities where it has a corporate presence.



Mansion Global is owned by Dow Jones. Both Dow Jones and realtor.com are owned by News Corp.

