Finding workforce housing in Nelson County continues to prove difficult as evidenced by data in CAAR’s recent home sales report. The CAAR 2022 4th Quarter Homes Sales Report can be found here.
Mortgage rates have started to stabilize and trend downward. In the third week of January 2023, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 6.15%, which is down from around 7% a few months ago. Also of note, the supply of active listings is growing in the CAAR footprint. There were 740 active listings on the market at the end of the fourth quarter, 304 more listings than a year ago, a 70% jump. In Nelson County, the inventory of active listings rose by 58% compared to last year’s 4th quarter numbers. The days on the market (DOM) is 33 days, six days faster than a year ago. This indicates it is still a very strong "seller’s market" until the DOM is closer to 120 DOM.
This of course, is exactly the housing gap we are hoping to bridge. Renaissance Ridge plans to build at least 80 units in Phase 1 with around 20-25% of those homes designated for workers that want to live and/or serve our community. We hope to help people like Tyler who commented, “As a member of the Nelson County public safety community, I particularly like that the project allows for equitable access to a home in an otherwise challenging market. Moreover, its location is beautiful and the designs are stunning. Finally, as a Firefighter/Paramedic within the community, living here would allow me to access fire/rescue apparatus more quickly on my days off, should there be a need.”
Stay tuned for more information on cottage designs and other plans for the townhouses and single-family homes at Renaissance Ridge soon. If you are interested in becoming a homebuyer, we would encourage you to fill out a short questionnaire provided by our partners at Piedmont Housing Alliance, to help get you started with the process.
