Schools

Yorktown High School is getting a new principal after six and a half years.

Bridget Loft, formerly the Swanson Middle School principal, will be taking the helm at Yorktown from Principal Kevin Clark. She is returning to a position that she previously held from 2017 to January 2020, when Clark took over.


Schools

For the first time, Arlington Public Schools has hosted a summer graduation ceremony honoring the achievements of 39 high school seniors.

The students, representing all the county’s public schools, completed final diploma requirements during the school system’s four-week summer school program.


Sponsored

This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].

Question: How has the Arlington single-family home market performed in the first half of 2026?

Answer: Arlington’s single-family detached (SFD) market got busier and more competitive in the first half of 2026, yet prices increased at their slowest pace since 2023.

More Competition, Modest Appreciation (Resale Market)

Note: this data is for resales of single-family detached (SFD) homes; I have a separate analysis of the new construction market further down.

  • The average and median price increased 3.5% and 1.9%, respectively
  • Over the past five years, the average and median price increased 13.9% and 11.1%, respectively
  • The average and median price of a home increased to $1.44M and $1.299M, respectively
  • Demand and competition rose to the highest levels since 2022, with 66% of homes selling within the first ten days on market and 68% of homes selling at or above the original asking price
  • The average buyer paid 1.3% more than the original asking price, compared to 2025 when the average buyer paid 0.3% less than the original asking price
  • Buyers of homes that went under contract within the first week on market paid an average of 4.7% over the asking price

Dig Deeper: Performance Varied by Size, Price Point

The appreciation gap between the average price (3.5%) and median price (1.9%) matters. The average is more sensitive to expensive sales. In 2026, 15.7% of closed resales sold for $2M or more, up from 12.7% in 2025. At the other end of the market, only 21.7% sold below $1M, down from 24.4%. That shift toward higher-priced homes helped lift the average faster than the median.

Average and median prices are useful, but neither tells us whether gains were shared evenly across the market. To test that, I divided the closed resale market into four sold-price quartiles for each year. Each quartile represents one-fourth of that year’s sales, from the least expensive 25% to the most expensive 25%. (more…)


Schools

An Arlington Mill concert featuring student musicians and other local bands raised funds for Aspire! Afterschool Learning last weekend.

The Jackson Nine, a group of youth in Aspire’s no-cost summer program, rounded out an afternoon of performances at Arlington Mill Community Center plaza, which also included the adult bands APM (Always Preparing Mentally), The Stacks and Angel Roads.


Events

While Arlington is entering the later days of the summer, a full schedule of outdoor events continues through August.

Movie showings, live concerts and the Arlington County Fair are sure to draw crowds in the maybe-not-so-blistering heat of the late-ish season. Other outdoor attractions range from Rosslyn’s Dark Star Park Day to an outdoor bonsai class in Pentagon City.


Event

Join us for Pike Fest, Columbia Pike’s signature fall festival, on Saturday, October 10!

Celebrate everything that makes Columbia Pike one of Arlington’s most vibrant and diverse communities with an afternoon full of live music, delicious food, family fun, and local shopping. From incredible restaurants and food vendors to artisan makers, community organizations, and small businesses, Pike Fest is your chance to experience the very best of the Pike all in one place.


News

Nearly 20 years after its founding, the Columbia Pike Documentary Project has never run out of people, places and events to chronicle.

“The community is still in transition,” Lloyd Wolf, one of the initiative’s founders, said during a July 26 presentation at the Arlington Historical Society.


Opinion

Whether you’re in the mood for watercolors, pottery or a paint-and-sip night out, Arlington has no shortage of options to help residents explore their creative side.

Here are the nominees for “Best Places to Take an Art Class in Arlington” as part of our ARLnow Readers’ Choice awards.

Did we miss your favorite place? Write it in!

Voting will close in two weeks.

Voting for Best Nail Salon in Arlington is still taking place. Be sure to cast your vote before voting closes next Friday at 8:30 a.m.

Two weeks ago, we voted on the Best Hair Salon in Arlington. The results are now official:

  1. Salon Joseph
  2. Kess Hair & Skincare
  3. Urban Halo

Around Town

A Nashville-style fried chicken and smash burger chain is almost ready to open its latest location on N. Glebe Road.

Nash & Smashed, a rapidly growing D.C.-area chain, has had signage up at the Buckingham Center since this time last year. It’s now set to hold a soft opening in about two weeks, with a grand opening to come later on, chief operating officer Lamaan Malik told ARLnow.


Around Town

Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse’s schedule for the next five months includes a stand-up comedian who has sold out Madison Square Garden.

The movie theatre and comedy club on Columbia Pike has nationally-touring comic Chris Distefano scheduled for four mid-December shows, marking his return to a venue he played early in his career.


News

Arlington County is just a few years out from realizing its dream of turning residents’ solid waste into natural gas and consumer-grade fertilizer.

Arlington Re-Gen, a long-awaited upgrade to the county’s wastewater treatment process, is expected to begin producing a product known as “Class A biosolids” by late 2030 or early 2031 — providing more opportunities for the second life of Arlington residents’ No. 2.