New Construction
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The Growing Impact Of New Home Sales In Harrisonburg, Rockingham County |
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 Between 2016 and 2020 we were seeing around 150 to 200 new home sales per year, per the HRAR MLS. But since 2021 we have been seeing upwards of 300 home sales per year in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County as recorded in the Harrisonburg Rockingham Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service (HRAR MLS). A few thoughts, notes and observations... 1. These numbers do not include all new home sales, as some owners of lots or parcels of land hire builders to build them a home and these homes never show up as a new home sale in the HRAR MLS. 2. Can you imagine how tight inventory levels would be in our market if these new homes had not been built? Fewer homeowners have been willing to sell their home in recent years, but thankfully there has been an increase in the number of new homes being built. 3. Pre-2021 the main regional / national builder in our marketplace was Evergreene Homes (Preston Lake) but since 2021 we have seen Ryan Homes and DR Horton join the mix. These larger non-local builders have been significant contributors to these higher numbers of annual new home sales. 4. Many new home developments are currently being built, or planned or proposed. Higher interest rates have kept (at least temporarily) some builders and developers on the sidelines but we will still see quite a bit of new construction over the next few years. In a growing area such as Harrisonburg and Rockingham County we will continue to see new home sales play a vital role in increasing housing options for people hoping to make this area their home. | |
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Port Place Townhomes, To Include 68 Townhomes, Proposed On Port Republic Road |
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 The Rockingham County Planning Commission is reviewing a proposed rezoning of 6.63 acres on Port Republic Road, across from Hose Company Number 4, near the intersection of Port Republic Road and Boyers Road. The developer is requesting that the 6.63 acre parcel that is currently zoned A-2 (General Agricultural) be rezoned to PMF (Planned Multi-Family) to allow for the construction of 68 townhome units. The developer would seemingly plan to develop these over a two year timeframe with no more than 34 building permits being issued in any rolling 12-month period. Here is the planned site layout...  You can download the full rezoning application and supporting documents here. Current plans call for Planning Commission to review the request today (12/3/2024) and for the Board of Supervisors to review the request next month (1/8/2025). | |
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Are Most New Homes Attached Homes These Days? |
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 With most proposed new housing developments including apartments and townhouses these days -- and far fewer including detached homes -- some wonder whether we will continue to see fewer and fewer new detached homes built in future years. Above you'll see how things shook out in 2023 and 2024. Last year, 59% of new homes that were sold via the HRAR MLS were detached homes... more than half of the total. This year, only 48% of new homes that sold via the HRAR MLS were detached homes. I think there is a good chance that this trend -- a shift away from detached homes, towards attached homes -- will continue in new construction in this area over the next few years. | |
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More Than Half Of New Home Buyers Are Buying Attached Homes |
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 Most buyers of new homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County are buying attached homes... though just barely. 52% of new home buyers (191) bought attached homes over the past year 48% of new home buyers (178) bought detached homes over the past year Two reasons come to mind as to why we are seeing just as many (or slightly more) buyers buying new attached homes as detached homes... [1] It's what the builders are building. [2] The price point of attached homes is more affordable. Here's how the median sales price of detached and attached homes compare over the past 12 months... Detached Homes = Median Sales Price of $406,250 ($210/SF) Attached Homes = Median Sales Price of $328,955 ($198/SF) Moving forward, I think both of these dynamics (what is being built, price of each) will cause plenty of future buyers of new homes to be buying townhouses. Who knows... within a few years we might be seeing 60% to 70% of new home buyers buying attached homes instead of detached homes. (Attached Homes = townhouses, duplexes, condos) | |
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953 New Townhomes, Apartments, Detached Homes Proposed On 161 Acres At Quarry Heights |
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 download a larger version of the concept plan here A sizable new housing development is being proposed in the City of Harrisonburg, to include up to 953 new housing units on 161 acres just west of downtown Harrisonburg at the site of Frazier Quarry, which would be transformed into a 30 acre lake. The new development would be located on the north side of West Market Street generally across from Thomas Harrison Middle School and would border Waterman Drive.  click here for a larger version of the area map Here are some basics on the types of housing that are proposed for this new housing development:
Of the 653 townhouses and detached homes, approximately 48 housing units are estimated to be detached homes. This proposed new housing development is similar in size to Preston Lake, which is just east of Harrisonburg, located in Rockingham County. The conceptual layout shown above is not proffered, so that could change. The developer has outlined an extensive list of proffers, including:
Of note, the developer who is seeking the rezoning would not build the housing. They might build the apartments - but they would be partnering with a builder or builders in the future to build the townhouses and detached homes. A representative of the developer indicated that the following price ranges would be likely for the housing types that are planned for the development:
The Villas described above would be high end attached homes on the highest ridge of the development with eastern and/or western views. You can find links to additional documents related to this proposed development on the City website here. City Staff recommends approval of the rezoning and special use permits required for this development. A public hearing for Quarry Heights will take place at the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, October 9 at 6:00 PM. | |
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While Lots Of New Housing Has Been Approved In The City, Very Little Has Been Built |
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 Over the past 3.5-ish years, since January 2021... in the City of Harrisonburg... 2,886 new dwelling units have been approved 25 have been built Wow! Indeed, City Council has approved a LOT of new housing over the past few years, including...
And yet, over that same timeframe, the only housing to be completed includes...
Of note... these "25 units completed" does not include the following housing units that were completed over the past 3.5 years that were already approved 3.5 years ago, consisting of...
So, housing has certainly been built in the City over the past 3.5 years (a total of 209 dwellings) but that pales in comparison to the many (many!) units that have been approved and have not been built. Of those that have not been built... some new housing units are being actively planned, while the planning has stalled out on some. You can view a list of the approved developments in a memorandum to City Council here and a presentation about the housing pipeline here. | |
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242 New Homes On 92 Acres Planned At Granite Farm Just West Of Harrisonburg |
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 The property shown above is located in Rockingham County but the owner and developer would like water and sewer service to be provided by the City of Harrisonburg. Way back in 2004, the City approved providing water and sewer service for 285 homes. Then, back in 2006, the property was rezoned to allow for the development. The rezoning is still valid... but the applicant has to ask the City again for public utility access. Last week the Planning Commission approved the request and next up City Council will consider it. It appears that this new home development, Granite Farm, would be developed by D.R. Horton. You can find the details of the public utility access request here. Here's an aerial from Google Maps to show the context for this planned residential development, though the shape of the development parcel is a bit skewed in this perspective...  Here's a top down view with a broader context from the Rockingham County GIS...  | |
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Where Do All Of The People Work Who Will Live In All The New Housing Being Built? |
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 This is a good question and one that I have had multiple people native to the area and new to the area ask me over the past few years... Where Do All Of The People Work Who Will Live In All The New Housing Being Built? If you drive around the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area, you'll see quite a bit of new housing at various stages of construction. My non-scientific, non data-driven answer is as follows... 1. Many mid-sized to large employers in this area keep on growing. 2. We continue to see smaller companies starting up or being created in the Harrisonburg area. ...and perhaps (maybe) most significantly... 3. The pandemic at least partially severed the connection between "where I work" and "where I live" as it relates to the Harrisonburg area. After a year (+) of allowing some (to many) employees to work from home, some (to many) employers have realized that remote work has its benefits. Employees can be more productive, spend less time commuting and have a higher quality of life. And sometimes, that higher quality of life for a remote worker means working for a company in a larger metro area, and living in... Harrisonburg! This is not to say that there are suddenly thousands of people living in Harrisonburg and working for companies outside of the area... but that reality is much more in play now than it ever has been in the past. Who wouldn't want to live in Harrisonburg if one's out of town employer allowed for it!? :-) | |
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Very Few New Homes Are Custom Built Homes These Days |
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 When speaking of single family homes (not townhouses or duplexes) currently being built in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County -- most of them are not custom built homes. There are now several regional builders in our market that are buildings many single family homes, often very quickly. It's interesting, thus, to think about how the overall housing stock in our area will be impacted over time. Twenty years ago, many new homes in our area were custom built with some spec homes mixed in as well, but we didn't have large subdivisions with 50+ or 100+ homes being built out by a single builder in just a year or two or three. I do not anticipate seeing this trend reverse itself over the coming years. I suspect from here on out we will always see more (or many more) new homes being built by large regional or national builders than we will see custom built homes. | |
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16 Townhouses Planned For Corner Of Deyerle Avenue And Lucy Drive |
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 City Council recently approved the rezoning (from R3 to R8) of a one acre parcel at the corner of Deyerle Avenue and Lucy Drive to allow for the development of 16 townhouses. Here's the potential site plan...  Learn (a bit) more via the application packet here. | |
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Three Story Apartment Building With 15 to 20 Apartments Planned On West Elizabeth Street |
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 The owners of a 0.24 acre lot on West Elizabeth Street, between North High Street and North Liberty Street, plan to build a three story apartment building with 15 to 20 apartments. The owners have received approval from the City for the rezoning required for this development to move forward. City staff, planning commission, city council and the developers all seem excited at the prospect of bringing more living opportunities to the downtown area. Interestingly...
I'm just realizing that the site will potentially be transformed from only being used by cars (a parking lot) to a use that does not allow for cars (apartment building with no on-site parking). :-) | |
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When Will Construction Begin At Bluestone Town Center? |
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 A major housing development is planned on Garbers Church Road (and Erickson Avenue) and here's an overview of the timing, looking back and looking forward... June 2022 - Details first merge on the proposed housing development January 2023 - Planning Commission considers rezoning request February 2023 - City Council approves rezoning request May 2023 - Developer purchases the land for the development January 2024 - Plat for Phase One proposed And the latest... Mid/Late 2025 - Construction anticipated to begin From the article above...
Find out more about Bluestone Town Center here. | |
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What Prices Did Buyers Pay For New Homes Over The Past Year? |
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 Over the past year, 322 new home sales have been recorded in the HRAR MLS. The full breakdown is above, but here are a few highlights of what buyers paid for new homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County over the past 12 months...
A few more details not shown in the data above...
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How Many More Single Family Detached Homes Will Be Built In The City Of Harrisonburg? |
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 Over the past year this is where single family detached homes were built, as reflected by sales in the HRAR MLS... City of Harrisonburg = 3 homes Rockingham County = 58 homes When looking at development proposals in the City of Harrisonburg here's the breakdown of property types being proposed... Apartments = 74% or 2,747 homes Townhomes or Duplexes = 21% or 771 homes Single Family Detached Homes = 6% or 206 homes So, I suppose it is reasonable to ask or wonder... how many more single family detached homes be built in the City of Harrisonburg? Perhaps the vast majority of single family homes that will ever exist in Harrisonburg have already been built? Perhaps over the next 10, 20 and 30 years, 95% or more of new housing units will be apartments, townhouses or duplexes? After all, the City will eventually run out of land for building more housing. As it currently stands, if you are going to buy a new single family home in the next few years it seems almost certain that it will be in Rockingham County, not the City of Harrisonburg. | |
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Evergreene Homes Proposed New Residential Development On Port Republic Road, Weston Park, To Potentially Include 74 Townhomes, 28 Duplexes And 26 Detached Homes |
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 The developer of Preston Lake, Evergreene Homes, is proposing a rezoning in the City of Harrisonburg to allow for the development of a new neighborhood across Port Republic Road from Westmoreland Drive...  This development would include 128 homes currently shown as:
The City of Harrisonburg Planning Commission will hold a public hearing about this rezoning request on February 14, 2024. City staff recommends that this rezoning request be denied, for two reasons... [1] The Comprehensive Plan shows this area as Low Density Mixed Residential which is intended to include large and small lot single family detached dwellings, sometimes with duplexes - but not with townhouses. The majority of the dwelling units in the proposal for Weston Park are townhouses. [2] Only 6.3% of the approved dwelling units between January 2021 and February 2024 have been single family homes and 1.6% have been duplexes. During that timeframe, 23.2% of the approved dwelling units have been for townhomes (589 of them) and 68.9% of the approved dwelling units have been for multi-family properties (1,747 of them). As the staff report summarizes... "Given the lower number of single-family detached and duplex dwellings that have been given use-approval compared to townhomes, and that the Comprehensive Plan recommends single-family detached and duplexes for the subject property, at this time, staff does not believe the subject property needs to be rezoned to allow for more townhome development." | |
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Starbucks, Chipotle, Hotels, Storage And More Planned For Urban Development Area |
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 Above is a recently updated map of the Urban Development Area. Some updates to be aware of... [1] Site work has begun for Wentworth Apartments. [2] An extended stay hotel is being built on Stone Port Blvd. [3] A new Chipotle might be built on Stone Spring Road next to the new 7-11 gas station that is almost complete, which is next to Taco Bell. [4] A new Starbucks may be built on Stone Spring Road. [5] A Hyatt Hotel may be built behind Walmart. [6] CubeSmart Storage was recently completed and Stone Spring Storage is being constructed. Download the full sized map here. | |
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Most Buyers Include A Study Period In A Contract For A Building Lot Or Land |
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 Getting ready to build your dream home? Exciting!!! Did you find the perfect building lot in a neighborhood? Or an ideal 2.5 acre lot in the County where you plan to build? Fantastic!!! You have two options at this point... [1] Continue to do lots of research and planning, and then if it all pans out, make an offer and try to negotiate a deal with the seller. [2] Make an offer with a study period. Most buyers seem to be more comfortable with the second option -- going ahead and making an offer, with a study period. This strategy allows you to make sure you can negotiate a deal with the seller that works for you from a price (and other terms) perspective -- before then spending a good bit of time, and possibly money, on confirming that the lot or land is suitable for your building plans. During your study period (often 30, 60, 90 days or longer - depending on the property type) you will likely... [1] Walk the building lot with your builder. [2] Research details of utility locations and/or availability. [3] Confirm any easements that would affect where you could build. [4] Research how much rock may exist and whether that will affect your building plans. [5] Get pricing from your builder for building your dream home now that you have a proposed site/location for it. These are just a few of the items we might research during the study period in your contract -- all pointing us to a greater understanding of whether your plans for building on the lot will work well for you. If you're ready to explore some land or building lots, be in touch! | |
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There Are A Limited Number Of Available Building Lots For Custom Homes In Our Area |
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 Just an observation here, but there are currently a very limited number of options for buying a building lot, hiring a home builder and building a custom home. Furthermore, I don't know if that will change much over the next few years. There are (27) building lots on the market (per the HRAR MLS) in or near Harrisonburg -- with a "Harrisonburg" or "Rockingham" address. Of those 27 building lots... 7 are in Crossroads Farm, 9 are in The Springs at Osceola,and the other 11 are scattered around here and there. In the time I have been in real estate (20 years or so) there have been quite a few single family home neighborhoods where future homeowners (or builders) could purchase a building lot to build a home. These included:
Now, there aren't any (or many) undeveloped building lots in these neighborhoods... and I don't know what the next neighborhoods will be to go on this list. Most current new developments or proposed developments seem to be one of three varieties... [1] Apartments [2] Townhouses [3] Detached Homes all to be built by a regional or national builder So, when will we (will we?) see other neighborhoods planned and developed where building lots can be purchased where a builder can be hired to build you a home? | |
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An Increasing Portion Of Home Sales Are New Home Sales |
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 Between 2015 and 2020 the portion of annual home sales that were new homes ranged from between 10% and 15% per year. But... we started to see the share of new home sales increase significantly in 2021 when the shared of new home sales jumped up to 19% of total home sales. Then, in 2022 that rose to 26% and dropped off a touch in 2023 to 25% of all home sales being new homes. A few thoughts regarding this trend... [1] New home sales are and will continue to be an important segment of our local housing market given that our local population is increasing. [2] This increase in the share of new home sales in 2021 (and continuing through 2022 and 2023) coincides with when we started seeing more regional or national home builders in our marketplace. The three main regional or national builders we are seeing develop communities in our area are Evergreen Homes, Ryan Homes and DR Horton. [3] Super low mortgage interest rates between 2019 and 2022 has resulted in a LOT of homeowners currently having very low interest rates (below 4%) on their current mortgages. This will likely result in less turnover (resale) of existing homes over the next year or two so long as current mortgage interest rates stay at or above 6%. | |
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94 New City Townhomes Proposed On Pear Street In Cobblers Valley, Zephyr Hill |
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 Ryan Homes is in the process of developing a neighborhood called Cobblers Valley, on Pear Street, in Rockingham County. The portion of the development to be built in Rockingham County is intended to include:
There is also a small portion of the development that will exist in the City of Harrisonburg, to include 32 townhomes, highlighted in purple above. A new rezoning to go before the Planning Commission this evening would allow for an additional 21 townhouses, highlighted in blue above. A second rezoning to go before the Planning Commission this evening would allow for an additional 41 townhomes, highlighted in red/orange above. My understanding is that the 53 townhomes (32 +21) would be a part of Cobblers Valley, but that the 41 townhomes would be a separate development, called Zephyr Hill, which already includes 55 planned townhomes. View City documents related to the rezoning and special use permit requests here (21 townhomes) and here (41 townhomes).  | |
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Scott Rogers
Funkhouser Real
Estate Group
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scott@funkhousergroup.com
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