CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Spring 2026 saw a busy housing market in Central Virginia, as home sales increased in all areas of the Charlottesville Association of Realtors according to their Q2-2026 Housing Market Report.
Amanda Spigone, current President of CAAR, told Cville Right Now that she attributes the increase to pent-up buyer demand along with stabilizing prices.
“I think interest rates rose some last year, and in Q2 specifically of 2026, they dropped a little and there was just more demand, so buyers came back into the market,” said Spigone. There were 1241 closed sales in the region this quarter in 2026–a 14% increase over 2025. Spigone referenced stabilizing prices in the area are another positive indicator for buyers. “Median sold price has essentially stayed the same, which is a healthy sign after years of like rapid appreciation. We’ve had where it’s gone [up], four and five percent month over month.” Compared to Q2 2025, the median sold price of a home in the CAAR region increased only 0.3%.
Local real estate broker Michael Guthrie, President Emeritus of Howard Hanna Roy Wheeler Realty, noted the stabilizing prices can benefit both parties in the homebuying equation.
“Sellers are still able to sell their house at a good price,” Guthrie told Cville Right Now, “but the good news is that buyers are not penalized for taking their time and trying to find the right house.”
In previous years and more competitive markets, buyers were under pressure to act quickly or lose out on a potential home.
Interest rates may also have impacted homebuying for the area. Though the current rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is at 6.58%, down just 0.16% from 2025, buyers may be recognizing a new normal in the market.
“I think that there’s been some acknowledgement that they’re not going to go back down to the twos, threes, and fours that we saw during the COVID era,” Spigone said. “Maybe consumers were on the fence for a while and they decided, ‘Hey, I want to get in a house before and especially with the rapid price acceleration.'”
Minor fluctuations can still leave opportunities, though.
“Sales were up, closings were up, and it was because the interest rates got down close to six,” Guthrie said. “It just goes to show that we still are an interest rate sensitive market.”
Sales increased significantly, compared to other areas, in both Fluvanna and Louisa Counties where closed sales increased by 20.8% and 28.6%, respectively.
“I think what accounts for it really is, there’s Louisa and Fluvanna and Greene all have some new construction options, which I think opens the inventory up,” Spigone said. “And it’s more affordable than Charlottesville, Albemarle, those jurisdictions.”
Though Greene County showed slower growth in Q2 2026 compared to recent quarters, Guthrie believes it will still be an area of growth moving forward. AstraZeneca recently broke ground on a pharmaceutical plant in Albemarle County at the Rivanna Futures site just to the south of Greene, while Merck has also announced plans for a facility in nearby Elkton in neighboring Rockingham County.
“I think when we get to the 3rd quarter, you’re going to see Greene sort of take over because you’ve got some industry out there,” Guthrie said.
Spigone believes interest rates will have a significant effect on the market moving further into 2026, as well.
“I think interest rates are going to be the big factor that I’m really watching,” she said. “I think if they are trending up, if they continue to trend up too high, I think that that could make the market contract some because what somebody can afford at 6.5%, they perhaps can’t afford at 7% or 7.5%.”
One other factor that may impact Q3 activity, according to Guthrie, is midterm elections.
“A lot of people want to wait and see what happens,” he said, “it doesn’t really matter who gets elected.”
