State of the Region Report for Hampton Roads

Hello Hampton Roads,
I had a chance to review the latest State of the Region Report for Hampton Roads which came out 2 days ago.  This report has been published for the past 15 years by Dr. James Koch of ODU.  There are quite a few interesting tidbits about residential housing that I'd like to share with you.

Among them are the following:
1) Housing is still very affordable and sales prices are still below the peak of 2007
2) It is better to buy than rent if you are able to do so.

Housing Affordability

The median sales price for homes in Hampton Roads is increasing and stands at $203,000.00; yet it is still $20,000 less than the peak in 2007 ($223,000.00).  Furthermore, the average mortgage rate in 2007 was 6.34% whereas it was 4.17% in 2014. And today, according to Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage survey, the average 30 yr mortgage rate is 3.76% .

The report also shows graphically from 1979 to 2014 the housing affordability as a percentage of median household income. The latest data show that is takes about 20.4% of household income to purchase a home which as the report states, "...is almost as affordable as it has been for nearly 40 years."

Rent vs Own

Rental rates have gone up dramatically. The median monthly rent for a 3 bedroom apartment in 2014 was $1562.00.  The mortgage payment for a median priced home in 2014 (Principal, Interest and Taxes) was  $1124.00. This is a difference of $438.00 per month and $5,256.00 a year.  Based on these numbers, it makes sense to purchase if you can do so.


See the table below:

I hope you found this information as interesting as I did and if there is anything I can do to help with your real estate needs, please let me know!


Thanks for Reading,

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Serving your Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach Real Estate needs. Liz Schuyler on Google+