Meet Dazymae, the newest Adoptable Pet of the Week!
This all black pup is in need of a forever home and is up for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Arlington. She is currently in foster.
Craving hand-crafted pasta, risotto or wood-fired pizzas? Arlington’s vibrant dining scene is flourishing with ristorantes serving up mouth watering Italian cuisine.
We’ve complied the top picks for “Best Italian Restaurant in Arlington” as part of our ARLnow Readers’ Choice awards. Your favorite restaurant not listed? Write it in!
Don’t delay — voting will close in two weeks.
Voting for Best Place to Get a Facial in Arlington is still taking place. Be sure to cast your vote before voting closes next Friday at 9 a.m.
Two weeks ago, we voted on Best Happy Hour Spot in Arlington. The results are now official:
- Buena Vida Gastrolounge
- Peruvian Brothers
- Ballston Local
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…)
The Arlington Housing Commission plans to spend the year exploring ways to include more diverse voices in conversations about housing policy.
But trying to get fuller representation of residents of color and those at the lower end of the economic scale will not necessarily be easy, the commission’s chair said.
Arlington Public Schools is abandoning X for Bluesky.
The school system announced Wednesday that it will no longer post updates on X — formerly Twitter — although its account will “remain open.”
*Mamistad Groups meet IN PERSON-only the introductory Zoom call is virtual. :)
Pregnancy and new mom groups are a lifesaver when it comes to normalizing those feelings we just can’t be prepared for.
Big Cuts Coming to Pentagon — “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the U.S. military to develop plans for cutting 8 percent from the defense budget in each of the next five years.” [Washington Post]
Top Brass May Be Fired — “Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could soon move to fire more than half a dozen generals and flag officers, according to two sources familiar with the matter, part of an effort to purge the department of senior leaders perceived as either too political or too close to former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.” [CNN]
Wrong-Way Crash in Rosslyn — “Wrong way driver causes 4 car crash: A driver coming off of I-66W in Rosslyn went the wrong way on N. Lynn Street. They hit a curb, sideswiped one car, hit a second car head-on, and that car was pushed into a third vehicle. It happened around 6:45 p.m.” [Dave Statter/X]
Street Racing Legislation — “Reckless drivers tearing up Virginia’s highways and public spaces may soon face tougher penalties, as legislation targeting exhibition driving heads to the governor’s desk. Lawmakers moved swiftly this week, approving legislation that aims to curb street racing, burnouts, and illegal road takeovers — dangerous stunts that have turned deadly in recent years.” [Virginia Mercury]
FCPD Video of Sex Offender — “Police body camera video first obtained by 7News, shows 58-year-old Richard Cox, who identifies as transgender, telling Fairfax County police that he should be allowed to use a women’s locker room in Oakton despite being a registered sex offender. Cox is facing more than 20 charges in Arlington, Va. after allegedly exposing himself in women’s locker rooms.” [WJLA]
Trump Floats D.C. Takeover — “President Donald Trump said Wednesday night that the federal government ‘should take over the governance of D.C.,’ claiming that leaders of the nation’s capital are not doing enough to reduce crime, clean up graffiti and remove homeless encampments.” [Washington Post, Axios]
Beyer Blasts IRS Cuts — From Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.): “Purging thousands of IRS workers in the middle of tax filing season is another act of plain corruption designed to benefit Musk, Trump, and their wealthy friends. These firings appear to particularly target tax enforcement on the wealthy, which will make it easier for tax cheats to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.” [Press Release]
It’s Friday — Expect sunny and breezy conditions with a high around 37 degrees and northwest winds at 17 to 20 mph, gusting up to 32 mph. Friday night will be mostly clear, with temperatures dropping to a low of around 22 degrees. Winds will decrease to 5 to 10 mph, still gusting up to 18 mph from the northwest. [NWS]
Flickr pool photo by Deckerme
Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
🕗 News recap
The following articles were published earlier today — Feb 20, 2025.
- 5:30 am: Notice: Virginia ABC permit application by BOE Clarendon LLC | 🗣️ Comments
- 7:30 am: Morning Notes for February 20, 2025 | 🗣️ Comments
- 8:15 am: Falls Church leaders, staff scramble to keep up with Trump edicts | 🗣️ Comments
- 9:00 am: Feedback sought on Rosslyn, Ballston and Shirlington projects with over 1,200 units proposed | 🗣️ Comments
- 9:45 am: With less parking at Reagan National, Pentagon City mall advertises its spots | 🗣️ Comments
- 11:15 am: Paris Baguette bakery eyes openings in Clarendon and F.C. this year | 🗣️ Comments
- 1:05 pm: ‘Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii’ is opening next week in Va. Square | 🗣️ Comments
- 2:30 pm: Arlington teen, out on bond from stabbing charge, arrested in Falls Church robbery | 🗣️ Comments
- 3:30 pm: Civic association makes final push to derail approval of Melwood plan | 🗣️ Comments
- 5:00 pm: Arlington high school sports schedule for Feb. 21-27 | 🗣️ Comments
📅 Upcoming events
Here is what’s going on Friday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
- 3:30 pm: Alexandria Teen Science Cafe/Future Cities…
- 👉 8:00 pm: Standup Comedy Show Starring Patrice DeVeaux
☀️ Friday’s forecast
Expect sunny and breezy conditions with a high around 37 degrees and northwest winds at 17 to 20 mph, gusting up to 32 mph. Friday night will be mostly clear, with temperatures dropping to a low of around 22 degrees. Winds will decrease to 5 to 10 mph, still gusting up to 18 mph from the northwest. See more from Weather.gov.
💡 Quote of the Day
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
– Steve Jobs
🌅 Tonight’s sunset
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
This week’s high-school sports schedule is all about the winter playoffs remaining for some teams in Arlington.
Some gymnasts, wrestlers and swimmers/divers will be competing in Virginia High School League Class 6 state championship meets the next few days. The state track-and-field meet also is upcoming.
The civic association representing residents living adjacent to the planned Melwood development project near Crystal City is taking a last stab at slowing down the approval process.
“It is time to take a pause and do better for this neighborhood,” said Stacy Meyer, vice president of the Aurora Highlands Civic Association, in a letter to County Board members. “We need the County Board to listen to its residents who have been very clear about opposing this project.”
An Arlington teen awaiting trial over his alleged role in a 2023 stabbing has been arrested on a robbery charge.
Police took Kamron Tartt, 19, into custody in Arlington’s Green Valley neighborhood on Feb. 6, shortly after he was identified as a person of interest in a robbery, an ACPD spokesperson told ARLnow.