A New Home in the New Year?

It’s the start of a new year, with new opportunities and a time to hit the reset button and start fresh. It is an excellent opportunity to start reaching towards ongoing goals you may have. If buying a home has been on your list, why not use the new year to begin taking steps to become a homeowner. The path to affordable homeownership may be closer than you think.

One of our partners, Piedmont Housing Alliance, offers a variety of free classes on homebuying and down payment assistance. These classes are offered all throughout the year, however, their next virtual classes will be on January 25th and February 6th. In these classes, you will learn about affordable home purchase support, such as the down payment loan program, SPARC program, and pre-purchase counseling. Participants are encouraged to ask questions about these different programs to find out how they can work for them. For a complete list of upcoming classes and to register for them, see here.

You can also sign up to work one-on-one with a housing counselor who can guide you through the steps and make recommendations before you start looking for your future home. To start that process, please fill out their in-take form here.

Renaissance Ridge is excited to partner with Piedmont Housing Alliance in the future for some of the workforce housing that will be available in Nelson County.

There is also an upcoming opportunity to learn more about affordable housing in our region and the missing middle which will be offered by The Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission during their 2nd Annual Regional Housing Summit. The event’s theme is “Coming Back Home” focusing on the role local and regional housing policies play in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the health and futures of our neighbors, communities, and the region. It will take place on Friday, March 24, 2023 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Charlottesville and tickets may be purchased here.

Housing Inventory & Affordability Continue to Be Problematic Across the U.S.

There is no question, the U.S. has doubled its housing shortage in the last decade alone. The recent record-breaking increase in housing production and financial resources has yet to make a difference in housing prices. This has even been true in smaller, more moderately-priced markets. As noted by a recent article by Housing Forward, “It’s just not enough.” 

And unfortunately, this housing shortage will likely continue to worsen. A recent report by Up For Growth called Housing Underproduction in the U.S. noted: “If we preserve a more of the same approach to policymaking, the nation’s housing shortage will continue to worsen. At the local level, exclusionary and discriminatory land-use and zoning policies artificially restrict housing production. A host of policies and practices—too much single-detached zoning, minimum lot size requirements, unpredictable and lengthy permit processes—restrict the availability and affordability of homes in high-opportunity neighborhoods, places that are rich in jobs, transportation, infrastructure, and community assets. While this affects everyone, it is particularly burdensome for working families, people with low incomes, and people of color. In fact, racial and ethnic discrimination has been embedded in housing policy for over a century. To create access to opportunity and a housing system that serves everyone, policymakers must prioritize racial, ethnic, and economic equity outcomes and actively reverse the nation’s history of exclusionary policies.  The good news is that we can choose to adopt a new approach to building homes that addresses not only availability and affordability, but also has positive impacts on equity and inclusion, economic vibrancy, and climate change. We can convert Housing Underproduction into housing opportunity.” 

In keeping with the rest of the country, inventory is at historically low levels in the region. According to CAAR’s 2022 1st Quarter Market Report, supply continued to fall in the first quarter, but the year-over-year inventory declines have moderated, suggesting that inventory might be bottoming out in the region. Across the CAAR footprint, there were 472 active listings in the region at the end of the first quarter. While inventory is down by just 16 listings, or 3%, compared to the end of the first quarter of 2021, the number of homes on the market is just about a third of what it was in the first quarter of 2020, before the onset of the pandemic. 

Here's a snapshot from their report on Nelson County for the 1st quarter of 2022.

CAAR 2021 3rd Quarter Home Sales Report Underscores Need for More Housing Inventory in Nelson County

The third quarter home sales report by CAAR recently reported an overall limited housing inventory with 30% fewer listings than this time last year. In Nelson County, there were just 60 active listings in the county at the end of the third quarter, 44 fewer listings than last year at this time, which is an even larger 42% supply reduction. On top of the reduction in inventory, the median sales price shot up 54% compared to last year. In the third quarter, Nelson County had the highest increase in the median sales price in the region at $365,000, which was $128,000 higher than last year at this time. 

One of the top priorities reported by residents surveyed in the recently published Planning for Affordability document produced by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is that they want to be able to live where they work. This enables people to be able to become more active members of their community. Only 2 of every 10 workers in Nelson County actually live in Nelson County. Additionally, 6 of every 10 workers commute out of the county and 2 out of 10 workers commute into the county for employment. This phenomena contributes to increased traffic congestion, loss of revenue for local businesses, reduced tax revenue to the county and a higher use of fossil fuels and a net-negative in reducing our collective community’s carbon footprint.  

A local teacher who participated in our housing market study commented, “One of the reasons that I would like to live closer to work is that I can better get to know the community in which I work. Also, I would have more energy to perform extra-curricular activities for the school.”

The community concerns over the lack of inventory and mix of housing types to meet the current demand for housing, both in the rental and buyer markets, is clearly outlined in this recent report. 

With so much need for additional affordable housing in Nelson County, we look forward to offering a range of home options at Renaissance Ridge.