Virginia Beach Housing Needs Assessment, Market Analysis, and Re-Investment Study

Abstract

After decades of growth, the City of Virginia Beach’s is not as desirable to the wider market as it has been historically, and the housing market faces serious challenges, due in part to two major demographic and economic shifts.  First, the millennial generation has surpassed baby boomers as the nation’s largest living generation (Fry, 2016). As millennials get older, they are becoming the nation’s largest market segment and their preferences are beginning to make a substantial difference in the housing market. Second, Virginia Beach has an increasing population of households with low incomes that struggle to afford housing and other necessities (refer to section 3.3, graph 6 and section 3.3.2, table 6).