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Vol. 10 No.5
January 29, 2018
www.csrej.com
Where Amazon’s HQ2 may help housing most Amazon has narrowed its choices for the home base of its second headquarters, known as HQ2, down to 20 cities, and the stakes are huge. The winning city will garner up to 50,000 new high-paying jobs as well as a promise from Amazon to invest $5 billion in the local economy. In total, 238 cities and regions submitted applications to Amazon, promising tax breaks and other incentives to lure the online giant. “Amazon’s decision on where it will locate its second U.S. headquarters has the power to transform the local housing market,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research at realtor. com®. “The city that gets selected will immediately see a boost to jobs and
wages, pushing home values up and triggering new construction in neighborhoods within commuting distance of the headquarters location.” Amazon narrowed the list to 20:
• • • • • • • • • • •
Atlanta Austin, Texas Boston Chicago Columbus, Ohio Dallas Denver Indianapolis Los Angeles Miami Montgomery County, Md.
• Nashville, Tenn. • Newark, N.J. • New York • Northern Virginia • Philadelphia • Pittsburgh • Raleigh, N.C. • Toronto • Washington, D.C.
“The impact is likely to be more material for smaller markets and those equipped to handle the growth,” Vivas says. “From a housing perspective, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Raleigh, N.C., all offer relative affordability and less inventory constraints, and they would benefit from a new wave of jobs. New York, Los Angeles, Denver, and Boston are markets that have already seen a fair share of growth and inventory challenges, and affordability would be further constrained.” Amazon has been relatively quiet during its selection process and what
low from obtaining this information, and they cannot alter its display once Zillow presents it unless they hire a broker that is party to the Zestimate agreement.” Zillow told GeekWire that some of its partnership programs do include the option of moving the Zestimate elsewhere on the page. See Zillow | Page 4
See Amazon | Page 7
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from several interested buyers. But EJ MGT asserts in its lawsuit that some brokers who partner with Zillow are able to “conceal” the Zestimates on their listings, which typically appears just below the list price. “In essence, Zillow is disseminating misleading and inaccurate pricing information that has gained prominence because of Zillow’s market power, and charging downstream participants to hide this negative information that Zillow, itself, acknowledges to be inaccurate,” the lawsuit states. “Further, members of the public have no way to prevent Zil-
“New York, Los Angeles, Denver, and Boston are markets that have already seen a fair share of growth and inventory challenges, and affordability would be further constrained.”
“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough; all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s head of economic development, said in a statement. “Through this process, we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.” Amazon plans to select a winner for its HQ2 site later this year, but its current headquarters will remain in Seattle, where it employs 40,000 people. The company has exploded in growth since it was founded in 1994, and it is seeking to expand to accommodate its growth nationwide.
Zillow faces new lawsuit over ‘Zestimates’ In a lawsuit filed this month, a New Jersey brokerage is accusing Zillow of hiding its “Zestimate” home valuation tool on certain residential listings at the request of brokers who have special contracts with the site. The brokerage, EJ MGT, says Zillow’s actions violate federal antitrust laws. The case stems from a listing the brokerage had in Cresskill, N.J., that appeared on Zillow. The eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom home was listed for just under $7.8 million, but the home’s Zestimate came in at $3.7 million. EJ MGT argues that the discrepancy in value caused a loss in business
all it is looking for, except to say it prefers a metro with a population greater than 1 million and a city that has the ability to attract and keep strong technical talent.
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