WASHINGTON (AP) — Amazon has just sparked a real estate frenzy to rival Cyber Monday.
A three-bedroom condo with Manhattan views that had sat on the market for months, priced at $1.7 million, is suddenly drawing would-be buyers now that Amazon has announced plans to build part of its new second headquarters in Long Island City.
Online searches for homes in the Long Island City — long an industrial area in the Queens borough of New York — soared 248 percent last week, real estate brokerage Redfin said. Searches in the other winner of Amazon's sweepstakes, Crystal City, Virginia, jumped 84 percent. Real estate agents say they're hearing from investors who'd like to become landlords and from sellers who've decided to pull their homes off the market and wait for prices to rise.
