Amazon HQ2: Pittsburgh Ranked High In Real Estate Quality

PITTSBURGH, PA - In what could be a positive for Pittsburgh’s Amazon HQ2 push, the city has the third-best overall real estate market among the 20 finalist cities. That’s according to a study by ATTOM Data Solutions, which analyzes the housing market’s demographics and data.

Pittsburgh ranked only behind Raleigh and Atlanta in real estate market quality, which could be a significant factor in Amazon’s decision. The company has said it will hire as many as 50,000 employees for its new campus, and those new workers likely will bring a higher demand for more housing.

Pittsburgh had the fourth-lowest housing prices and the most affordable housing, the study found. The city’s complete rankings:

• Overall real estate rank: 3
• Q4 2017 median home price: $150,000
• Rank: 4th lowest
• 5-Year home price appreciation: 36 percent
• Rank: 6th lowest
• Price to income ratio (affordability): 2.55
• Rank: lowest
• Average school score: 1.06
• Rank: 6th highest (tie)
• Crime rate to national average: 215
• Rank: 14th lowest
• Effective property tax rate: 1.79 percent
• Rank: 8th highest (tie)
• Environmental hazard risk index: 2.52
• Rank: 3rd lowest

While Raleigh has the best real estate market, the city has weaknesses that could hurt its bid. When the 20 finalist cities were announced in January, the Raleigh News & Observer noted the city’s lack of a transit system could hurt its Amazon bid. Fred Smith, a Davidson College economics professor, told the newspaper that could play to Pittsburgh’s advantage.

"Moving forward, I think some of the other issues that (amazon) listed as being ‘important’ – transportation, culture, etc. – will play a bigger role,” Smith said. “I’d anticipate that these issues will knock out cities like Indianapolis and, perhaps, Raleigh (poor transit infrastructure). It will also force cities that have a lot to offer (Pittsburgh) to take care of their glaring weaknesses. Pittsburgh’s ‘airport issues’ – it lost its hub status due to USAir’s mergers – is a big challenge, but I suspect Pittsburgh could fix that. Raleigh, on the other hand, can’t possibly fix its transportation problems in a short enough time frame.”

Patch national writer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo via Amazon.

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