Housing: Massive Demand, Little Supply

The gap between the number of homes being built in Washington DC’s Northern Virginia suburbs and those looking to buy them grows wider every day as jobs continue to flow into the Washington region by the thousands. The average price of a new house has doubled in the last two years. Land costs have doubled. It takes triple the time to get through the zoning process that it used to. Powerful NIMBY groups throw up roadblock after roadblock. Environmental restrictions are increasing. The price of building materials is rising. It’s “the perfect storm”, says developer David Flanagan, and while it keeps the real estate market hot and homeowner’s portfolios growing, it’s pushing sprawl further afield and making life ever more difficult for the middle class.