Housing Affordability Reports

A complete listing of all our reports and publications can be found here.

Housing Affordability Sourcebook
The Housing Affordability Sourcebook serves as an online source of current housing affordability information for Virginia, including its MSAs and counties and independent cities. The Sourcebook allows users to determine for an area how housing costs compare to incomes, how housing affordability has changed over time, and how housing affordability compares to other areas. The Sourcebook reflects a joint effort of Housing Virginia, the Virginia Association of REALTORS®, and the Virginia Center for Housing Research. The Center’s contribution is the content including the design, calculation, and description of measures. The information provided by the Housing Affordability Sourcebook is critical in helping policy makers, housing advocates, economic developers, and realtors gauge housing affordability in their area.

Poster on Affordable Housing Demand in Virginia
This poster projects housing demand by owners and renters for 2000, 2010, and 2020 for the state of Virginia as a whole. It projects both the increase in households and number of housing units needed. In addition, a table is provided showing the statewide affordable rental housing gap by three income groups.

Homeownership Affordability in Virginia
This 2004 report,"Homeownership Affordability in Virginia", estimates the affordability of homeownership across Virginia based on the average sales price of homes sold through the local Boards of Realtors and the median family income estimated by the Virginia Center for Housing Research. The report updates the data from earlier Center reports (2000-2002); 12 pages.

Affordable Housing Demand in Henrico County, Chesterfield County and City of Richmond
This report looks at housing trends and projects demand for affordable housing; 13 pages.

"The Wheel of Fortune: How to play the housing affordability game"
An article written by Dr. C. Theodore Koebel for Virginia Issues and Answers (a Virginia Tech publication) that analyzes housing affordability from two perspectives or camps ("crisis" versus "best housed"); 4 pages.

Losing Ground in Virginia: The Unaffordability of Rental Housing for Low-Income Families in the 1990's
Across Virginia, low-income families face rents for decent quality apartments they cannot afford. This report on affordability of rental housing provides a rent burden index based on housing costs relative to income for Virginia cities and counties; 12 pages (access Map 1 and Map 2 separately).