(RECAP: Loudoun County is facing a shortfall of more than 18,000 housing units needed to sustain its economic growth, according to a new housing needs assessment prepared by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis and housing needs analysis firm Lisa Sturtevant & Associates. The report projects Loudoun will have a demand for 66,600 new housing units between now and 2040, but is prepared to add only 48,910 in that time frame. Loudoun County is facing a shortfall of more than 18,000 housing units needed to sustain its economic growth, according to a new housing needs assessment prepared by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis and housing needs analysis firm Lisa Sturtevant & Associates. Over time, the housing affordability challenges are not expected to improve for many households in Loudoun County, and for many at the lowest income levels, the challenges will be exacerbated not only in Loudoun County, but throughout the region. The report said Loudoun County can do its part to accommodate lower-income working households and seniors and others on fixed incomes by helping to promote or incentive the development of housing affordable to these households.)

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(RECAP: City addresses housing: The city lacks affordable housing, and housing for senior citizens, according to officials who started researching the issues in the past year. Williamsburg doesn’t have enough market-rate senior housing. Mayor Paul Freiling mentioned in the city’s Goals, Initiatives and Outcomes that the city will actively look for solutions to the issue over the next two years at the very least. Affordable housing can be hard to obtain for some of the area’s underemployed residents, many of whom have jobs with restaurants, hotels and tourism attractions. Rita Smith, the executive director at Williamsburg Area Faith in Action, said nearly every senior housing facility has too high a price tag for poor families, or a long waiting list. Finding available land and enticing developers into the area is one of many steps the city would need to take, and by placing the initiative into its goals for the next two years, the city has shown the issue is and will continue to be on its radar.)

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(RECAP: Final figures won’t be released until Jan. 10, but the Northern Virginia real estate market appears likely to report its best sales year since before the recession hit. Average sales prices, but, could post their first decline – albeit a small one – for the first time in six years. With 11 of 12 months reported and just the December figures to go, a total of 20,070 properties have gone to closing across the local area, according to figures reported by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors (NVAR). That’s up 5.3 percent from the 19,063 transactions during the first 11 months of 2015, and is just 239 sales below the overall total for the last calendar year. For the first 11 months of the year, the average sales price was reported at $555,389.)

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