Experts Say Pittsburgh Housing Market Would Benefit Most From Becoming Amazon's HQ2
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Which city's housing market would benefit most as Amazon's second headquarters?
According to Realtor.com there's no better market than Pittsburgh.
Chief economist Danielle Hale put together an analysis on which housing market in the top 25 largest metro areas would theoretically benefit the most by becoming Amazon's second headquarters.
What makes the Steel City her top pick?
"Home prices remain low and appreciate at a slower pace than overall US prices, and homes sell faster than last year but still at a slower pace than other hotter markets," says Hale.
The median asking price in Pittsburgh is $175K, compare that to competing metros like Denver ($499K), Boston (490K), New York ($472K), and Washington D.C. ($429K).
Hale says the Pittsburgh housing market would welcome a big wave of new jobs.
"As a large metro area with over a million jobs, Pittsburgh is not at risk of becoming a one-company town upon Amazon's arrival and still has plenty of laborers for hire," according to Hale.
Housing inventory and new construction are ready for an upswing in demand as well.
Hales says inventory is relatively abundant in Pittsburgh, with about 18 listings per 1000 owner-occupied households.
"This bodes well for Pittsburgh in comparison with markets like Portland, St. Louis, San Francisco and Chicago, where we saw a decline in single-family starts from a year ago, suggesting more challenges are ahead for potential buyers in this market.