Home sales remain steady, values still rising

Average paid for Page County home over past 12 months nearly $320,000

By Randy Arrington

LURAY, Feb. 3 — The average purchase price of a home in Page County has risen 85 percent in the past seven years. In 2018, the average stood at $173,272, while homes selling during the past 12 months drew an average of $319,864. While the local housing market has cooled from its peak in 2021 and 2022 in terms of total homes sold and average days on the market, prices continue to rise.

Home sales in the Page Valley rose a modest 1.6 percent in 2024 with 254 sales, compared to 250 sales in 2023. While that figure stood at 163 sales in 2018, it peaked at 280 home sales in 2022. During the first six months of this year, Page County was outpacing some of its neighbors with an 11-percent increase over the previous year. However, the second half of 2024 saw the local housing market slow down. Neighboring Shenandoah County ended 2024 with a 4-percent increase in homes sales over 2023 (from 583 to 608), while Rockingham County and the City of Harrisonburg saw a 12-percent increase (from 1,231 to 1,381).

During the local real estate market’s peak in 2022, Page County homes only stayed on the market an average of 32 days. Over the past 12 months, local homes were on the market an average of 59 days — an 11.3-percent increase over the 53-day average in 2023. By comparison, that number stood at 143 days (nearly five months) in 2018.

The median days on market hit a low of just 10 days for Page Valley homes in both 2021 and 2022, and it continued to hold steady at 12 days in 2023. However, that figure more than doubled in 2024 to 25 days.

Despite the leveling off of total sales and the longer wait to close on a contract, average values continued to rise another 4.5 percent in 2024. The year started off with a bang as the average purchase price hit a record-high of $336,296 in just the first quarter, and even at the midway point in the summer home values were 8 percent ahead of 2023 for the same period. However, by year’s end the average cost of buying a home in the Page Valley settled in at $319,864. In 2023, that figure stood at $305,944.

The metric of counting $250K-plus home sales proved an interesting measure of the local real estate market back when only 26 such homes were sold in Page County in 2018. At that time, the average home sold for just $173,272. Seven years later, the metric seems outdated, as the average purchase price has jumped 85 percent (averaging $319,864) and nearly 70 percent of the homes now sold in Page County surpass the $250,000 threshold. Over the past year, 172 local home sales exceeded $250,000 — a 23.7 percent increase from 2023, when 139 such homes were sold (about 56 percent of total home sales).

Rising home values continue to influence ongoing reassessment efforts. About 10 months ago, the Page County Board of Supervisors awarded a two-year contract worth $537,624 to Cowan Appraisal to conduct the county’s next reassessment. The process to reassess Page County’s 21,901 parcels began July 1 and will conclude in late 2025.

The new assessed values will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026 and effect tax bills later that year.

~ Current data for this article was taken from Bright MLS, the primary Multiple Listing System for Page County, and the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County MLS,

and provided by Bill Dudley & Associates Real Estate Inc. in Luray, Va.

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Annual 12-month comparisons

for Home Sales in Page County, Va.

Homes Sold

254 — 2024 (up 1.6%)

250 — 2023

280 — 2022

270 — 2021

233 — 2020

191 — 2019

163 — 2018