Transportation Costs Are Affecting Housing Statistics in Northern Virginia
August 20th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
Transportation costs, now second only to housing as a percentage of the household budget (with food a distant third) are altering buying patterns for home owners in Northern Virginia.
A Washington Post article, “Gas Prices Apply Brakes to Suburban Migration“, noted that housing prices in far out Loudoun and Prince William counties have collapsed while those in the inner suburbs – like Alexandria and Arlington – have increased or at least stayed the same.
When gasoline was cheap it was easy to build miles of highway and then buildings and houses beside those highways but with fuel prices topping $4 a gallon, there has been a dramatic shift in how we travel.
Americans drove 9.6 billion fewer highway miles in May 2008 than in May 2007. In the Washington area mass transit is setting new records for ridership. – the WMTA recorded an 8.5% increase in April over the previous April. And its not just MetroRail, Metro Buses are busier than ever too.
Bruce Katz, director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institute noted :
“When people bought homes, they punched the numbers and said can we afford the mortgage payment and taxes,” Katz said. “This new paradigm is going to have families being more deliberate about the cost of transportation spending and energy costs. That’s a new phenomenon in the United States. That will be the change that will change development patterns.”
An alternative however is that eventually employers will move out to be closer to their exurban workers, according to Alan E. Pisarski, author of Commuting in America and a leading national expert on driving habits and trends. That phenomenon is already in play in some areas in the Metropolitan Washington area, with high-tech jobs along the Dulles corridor and Interstate 270 in Maryland and all the government contracting work near Tysons Corner.
The fact remains however that close in areas like Alexandria and Arlington have always been considered desirable with easy access to government offices, military installations, Capitol Hill and Regan National Airport. And for the first time buyer, it is an incredible time to get in the market.
Want to know more about housing and transportation options in Alexandria or Arlington? Call me at 703.927.4554 and let’s take a look at the numbers.
Michael
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Gas prices certainly effect how we move around town. I try to make all right turns to save on gas, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. Chattanooga has downtown electric shuttles serving the entire downtown area at no cost to its riders. It is a great plan and hopes it continues.
The electric shuttles sound like a great idea. In Alexandria we have the King Sreet Trolley as well as a DASH bus that moves through the main business area. For us, the impact has really been on the outlying areas and the folks who were communing anywhere from 90 minutes to two hours ONE WAY. When we moved to Del Ray almost 20yrs ago we deliberately picked a close in area and am I glad we did!
Thanks for stopping by