Renters in New York and DC could pay upwards of $200 more annually if Amazon splits its new headquarters between the 2 cities

Hayley Peterson

Nov 8, 2018, 21:49 IST

Renters in New York and DC could pay upwards of $200 more annually if Amazon splits its new headquarters between the 2 cities

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Amazon's second headquarters could drive up rental costs in New York and Washington, DC.

Amazon is reportedly considering splitting its new headquarters, HQ2, between Long Island City, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC.
If the new campus is built in New York, rents in the area could rise 0.7% next year, up from a projected 1% decline, according to an analysis conducted by Zillow in April.
That translates into about $17 more monthly, or $204 annually, on New York's median monthly rent of $2,401.
In the Washington, DC, area, Amazon's headquarters could drive up rents by 1.1%, or twice as fast as the rate projected without a new Amazon campus.

Renters in New York City and the Washington, DC, area could soon be paying more in housing costs if Amazon splits its new headquarters between the two cities.

Amazon is said to be in the late stages of negotiations to build campuses in Long Island City, New York, and Crystal City, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC, The New York Times reported on Monday evening.

Renters' costs could increase more than $200 annually in both cities if Amazon brings offices to those locations, according to an analysis conducted in April by the real estate site Zillow.

If the new campus is built in New York, rents in the area could rise 0.7% next year, up from a projected 1% decline. That translates into about $17 more monthly, or $204 annually, on New York's median monthly rent of $2,401.

In the Washington, DC, area, Amazon's headquarters could drive up rents by 1.1%, or twice as fast as the rate projected without a new Amazon campus.

That translates into about $24 more monthly, or $288 annually, for those paying the city's median rent of $2,146.

The increases in rental costs will kick off next year, assuming Amazon starts hiring for its second headquarters in 2019, according to Zillow.

It's important to note, however, that Zillow's forecast was based on the assumption that Amazon would build a single campus for its new headquarters. It's possible that splitting the campus between two locations could alter the impact to each city's rental costs.