On Tuesday, I attended the annual LEAD Hampton Roads “State of the Region” breakfast at the Marriott in Downtown Norfolk. At the breakfast, a team of ODU economists discussed our local economy and what we can expect in the year ahead.
The economists spoke for a bit about residential housing. Here’s what they had to say:
- There’s a continued decline of REO (bank owned) sales and short sales.
- The median sales price of existing residential homes increased to $203,000 in 2015 from $193,205 in 2014.
However, monthly rent for a three-bedroom apartment has increased dramatically since 2007. Why? The ODU economists believe too many people are forced to rent rather than buy because they can’t qualify for a mortgage. That has created a large pool of renters, which has driven up the prices.