Arlington, Virginia, is typically the most expensive county in the D.C. region for home selling prices, and for much of 2024 that remained the case, but Fairfax County had a strong year.
Closed sales in Fairfax County jumped more than twice as much as closed sales in Arlington County. What sold in Fairfax County in December sold in less than two weeks, almost a week faster than average days-on-market in Arlington.
Fairfax County has always been an attractive housing market for its location and its diverse employment base. It may also be looking more attractive to D.C.’s suburban buyers who feel priced out of Arlington County.
“Fairfax County has a little bit of an affordability advantage. Arlington County has gotten quite expensive, particularly for single-family housing,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at listing service Bright MLS.
“There has also been a little bit more listing activity in Fairfax County. (And) our market has been driven by move-up buyers, and there are more options in Fairfax County, which also offers a lot of good options for school districts that these move-up buyers are looking for.”
Fairfax County also still holds a buyers’ advantage over Arlington for how fast home prices are rising. Through the 12 months ending in December, the median price in Fairfax County was up 4.5%, compared to 10.2% in Arlington.
Fairfax County has a larger population — the most populous county in Virginia — and it has more housing stock than Arlington County, and therefore more monthly sales. In December, there were 845 closed sales in Fairfax County versus 144 in Arlington.
The median price of a closed sale in December in Fairfax County was $700,000, well shy of the median selling price of $837,500 in Arlington County. But there were a few times in 2024 when median prices in Fairfax County more closely rivaled Arlington, though that comes with a caveat.
“We’ve actually seen more condo interest in Arlington,” Sturtevant said. “With more condo sales you are going to have a lower median selling price just because of the mix of homes being sold. But, Fairfax is definitely moving into Arlington and Alexandria territory for price.”
Looking ahead to 2025, Sturtevant sees more of the same across the entire D.C. housing market, which does not necessarily bode well for young buyers this year.
“I think we are going to see that higher income households and people who are selling a home and buying are going to do OK in 2025,” she said. “It is the more moderate income homebuyer and first time buyer that are going to have the biggest challenges. And that is going to mean a widening gap in housing wealth in the Washington area, and that concerns me.”
Below is a snapshot of December and year-to-date sales in the D.C. metro, according to Bright MLS.

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