Between price increases and climbing interest rates, the average Hampton Roads homebuyer needs to make $48,000 more annually to afford a new mortgage than they did a year ago.

That’s according to a new real estate forecast from ODU’s E.V. Williams Center for Real Estate. 

The ODU report shows evidence the Hampton Roads housing market is loosening up a little, but that hasn’t translated to declining prices.

Home sales have come way down from their pandemic peak - 2023 saw 40% fewer closings than the high point in 2021.

And homes are now spending close to a month on the market as opposed to the one week most were listed before being snapped up in early 2022.

New construction of single-family homes has continued, but the prices are far above existing homes.

“The average price of a new home was $474,014 in 2023,” the report says. “The gap between resale and new homes now exceeds $100,000 which continues to push it further out of reach for the first-time homebuyer. It is becoming almost impossible to offer any new construction home below $300,000 in the Hampton Roads market.”

The City of Norfolk’s new housing study, which was released this week, found the same thing for new homebuyers in that city.

Part of the continued crunch regionally comes from older homeowners who can’t afford to sell their existing homes and move somewhere else, even if they’re interested in downsizing.

A housing study released earlier this year by Virginia Beach found that empty nesters sitting tight in homes they own has reduced churn and made it harder for younger families to find housing there.

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