Ask Eli: How Old Is Arlington Housing?

This regularly-scheduled sponsored Q&A column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Rosslyn resident. Please submit your questions to him via email for response in future columns. Enjoy!

Question: How old are most of the homes in Arlington and where are the newer homes located?

Answer: I thought I’d balance last week’s column on schools with something a bit less controversial… the age of our housing stock. The majority of housing units in Arlington were built from the 1930s through the 1950s.

With limited land available to build new communities, the majority of single family homes built in the 21st century are one-off projects replacing older homes instead of larger new communities you see elsewhere in the country.

I pulled data on all sales in Arlington since Jan 1, 2010 and broke it down by the decade. Each housing unit was built to provide some insight into the age of our market and where you’re likely to find the most homes for sale built in the 21st century. Note that this is not a dataset of all Arlington housing units, just those sold since 2010.

Data Highlights

• About 40% of Arlington’s condo inventory was built in the 2000s and caters to our huge population of wealthy millennials
• The fastest selling (highest demand) sub-market is for 1940s townhomes in Fairlington, a popular destination for young families due to affordability, convenience and walkability to Shirlington Village
• Despite the average family size in the US decreasing by about one person since the mid 1900s, the average single family home built in the 21st century has 1.5 more bedrooms, 2 more bathrooms and is over twice the size (they also take the longest to sell)
• The oldest home sold since 2010 was built in 1836 and located in the Alcova Heights neighborhood (off Glebe Rd, between Rt 50 and Columbia Pike) and sold for $950,000
• Nearly half of single family homes built in the 21st century are located in the 22207 zip code
• Housing built in the 1940s (4,647) and 2000s (4,218) make up 40% of the housing units sold since 2010
• Single family homes built in the 1940s sell fastest among all single family homes, likely due to demand for homes to be torn down or expanded and renovated

Data broken out by housing type and the decade it was built:

Concentration of housing built in the 21st century, broken out type of housing, by zip code:

If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at www.EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.

Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with Real Living At Home, 2420 Wilson Blvd #101 Arlington, VA 22201, (202) 518-8781.