Richmond and Hampton Roads both placed well on a study that compared 50 metropolitan areas across the country for operating costs for a headquarters, according to The Virginian Pilot.

This is good news for homeowners in these areas, because companies greatly desire to have their headquarters in locations with low operating costs. Any major company that moves their headquarters to Richmond or Hampton Roads will bring new jobs, tax revenue and growth to the area - all of which will help protect home values.

"Cheap labor and construction costs have made Hampton Roads an attractive location for corporate headquarters, according to a recently released report.

The study compared 50 metropolitan areas across the country that already are home to at least one major corporation. Of those, Hampton Roads ranked as the third-lowest in annual operating expenses for a headquarters, according to The Boyd Co. Inc., the Princeton, N.J.-based site-selection consulting firm that compiled the report.

The company compared markets looking at both labor costs for operating a headquarters with 325 employees and the cost of maintaining a 70,000-square-foot, top-of-the-line building.

'Labor tends to dominate the equation, and Virginia is a right-to-work state, unlike Maryland, Pennsylvania,' said John Boyd Jr., head of The Boyd Co. 'The labor climate favors management over labor. That tends to calm that inflationary wage pressure.'

Sioux Falls, S.D., and Little Rock, Ark., are the only two cities on Boyd's list that cost less than Hampton Roads. Richmond also made it, as the ninth-least-expensive metro area."

Read the full story.