Virginia Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Virginia home is worth $414,662, up 2.2% over the past year and up 23.4% over five years, 12.5% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #19 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $2,133 a month and takes about $109,920 of income; the median Virginia household earns $87,106, $22,814 short.
In Washington, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $2,433 a month against a $2,950 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so renting is $517 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is cool: 27.2% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 39 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 10.5% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Virginia Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Virginia? The typical home is worth $414,662, the median sale price is $432,133 and the median list price $433,333. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Virginia Home Prices Changed?
The typical Virginia home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 2.2% over the past year, are up 23.4% over five years, up 66.8% over ten, and up 230% since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Virginia?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Washington, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Virginia home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Washington, DC
The payment excludes property tax (0.76% of value in Virginia), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (23.4%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #23 of 50
A $2,133 monthly payment takes 29.4% of the median Virginia household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Virginia a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Virginia is cool: it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $432,133 against a median list price of $433,333, so the typical home closes 0.3% below asking.
Where the Virginia market is heading
Compared with a year ago, all three signals point looser, in buyers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is up 0.8 points from a year ago to 27.2%, homes take 3 days longer to go pending than a year ago (39 now), and the number of homes for sale is up 10.5%. The typical home value rose 2.2% over the same period and is at an all-time high. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Virginia home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Virginia Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 18 of the Virginia cities we track. The most expensive is McLean ($1,459,672) and the cheapest Lynchburg ($266,065). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach | 453,649 | $427,730 | +3.3% | ||||
| Chesapeake | 253,886 | $425,375 | +3.6% | ||||
| Arlington | 234,162 | $806,571 | +0.8% | ||||
| Norfolk | 230,930 | $312,422 | +1.3% | ||||
| Richmond | 229,247 | $364,726 | +2.6% | ||||
| Newport News | 183,118 | $294,403 | +2.9% | ||||
| Alexandria | 155,230 | $666,031 | +0.9% | ||||
| Hampton | 137,098 | $282,439 | +2.0% | ||||
| Suffolk | 100,659 | $389,533 | +2.7% | ||||
| Roanoke | 97,171 | $279,227 | +2.6% | ||||
| Portsmouth | 96,793 | $268,436 | +1.9% | ||||
| Lynchburg | 79,535 | $266,065 | +0.8% | ||||
| Centreville | 71,374 | $618,763 | +0.6% | ||||
| Reston | 66,070 | $624,958 | +0.3% | ||||
| Harrisonburg | 51,492 | $354,251 | +3.5% | ||||
| McLean | 50,232 | $1,459,672 | +2.5% | ||||
| Leesburg | 48,788 | $851,239 | +2.6% | ||||
| Charlottesville | 45,863 | $515,056 | +1.1% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Virginia cities ranked →
How Virginia Compares With Nearby States
The South states closest to Virginia on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Virginia
Virginia dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Virginia
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Virginia
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Virginia Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Virginia?
$414,662 is the typical Virginia home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $432,133 and the median list price $433,333. That makes Virginia the #19 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Virginia?
No. The typical Virginia home value rose 2.2% over the past year and is at an all-time high. Over five years it is up 23.4% and over ten years up 66.8%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Virginia home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+2.2% over one year, +23.4% over five years and +66.8% over ten years for the typical Virginia home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Virginia home is up 230%. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Virginia housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Virginia home value is at an all-time high after it rose 2.2% over the past year; 27.2% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 39 days (national 53), and inventory is up 10.5% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Virginia was 20.9% from September 2006 to January 2012, and values took 84 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Virginia?
The Virginia market is cool right now, which means it leans toward buyers: two of the three market signals point cooler than the national market. 27.2% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 39 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is up 10.5% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $109,920 of income, $22,814 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Virginia a buyer's or seller's market?
Virginia leans toward buyers. More listings are cutting prices than the national average (27.2% vs. 26.4%), homes take 39 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is up 10.5% from a year ago at 30K listings. Two of those three signals point toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Virginia?
In Washington, Virginia's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $2,433 a month, up 0.8% over the past year and up 19.3% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Virginia cities we track, rents range from $1,283 to $2,731 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Virginia?
Renting is cheaper month to month in Washington, Virginia's largest metro. Typical rent is $2,433 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $2,950, a difference of $517 a month in favor of renting. The payment excludes property tax (0.76% of value in Virginia), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Virginia?
About $109,920 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Virginia household earns $87,106, so the typical household is $22,814 short. That is the #23 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $2,133 equals 29.4% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Virginia?
Among the Virginia cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in McLean ($1,459,672) and the cheapest in Lynchburg ($266,065). Also at the top: Leesburg ($851,239), Arlington ($806,571), and Alexandria ($666,031). The city table above lists every tracked Virginia city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Virginia compare with nearby states?
In the South, the closest comparisons on price are Florida ($375,470, down 1.5% in a year), North Carolina ($334,773, flat in a year), and Tennessee ($334,108, up 0.7% in a year). Virginia's typical home is $414,662, up 2.2%. On affordability, Virginia ranks #23 of 50 versus Florida at #36, North Carolina at #27, and Tennessee at #31.
How current is the Virginia housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →