The median home sale price in Virginia in the month of July was, gulp, $448,000. Try paying for that on a median household income, right?
We get the sales figure from the July 2026 Virginia Home Sales Report, released by the Virginia Association of REALTORS® on Friday.
I mean, this is obviously good news for people who are already doing well, though from the perspective of the realtors – the release from the VAR reports that “rising mortgage rates appear to be cooling activity among some prospective buyers.”
Translation: they’d like prices to go even higher.
“July’s data points to a housing market that remains active but is becoming increasingly sensitive to borrowing costs,” said Ryan Price, the chief economist at the Virginia Association of REALTORS®.
“Mortgage rates moved higher throughout the month, and we saw the first decline in pending sales in a year and a half. Even so, inventory growth continues to be a bright spot, providing buyers with more choices than they’ve had in several years while helping to support a healthier balance between supply and demand,” Price said.
To illustrate how tough it is for the median household to compete, let’s look at my base of operations, in Waynesboro, where the median sales price is currently at $359,995, which would set you back in the range of $1,900 to $2,300 a month, depending on how much you can put together for a down payment.
The median household income here is $59,994.
The 28 percent rule suggests you should be shooting for a monthly mortgage in the $1,400 range.
It’s great for people like me who already own their own homes that sales prices are trending ever upward.
We need more affordable housing so that more people can join us in creating wealth for themselves.
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Chris Graham
