Sell Your Commercial Property In Virginia

The Virginia rental market at a glance

Virginia's median gross rent stood at $1,579 a month in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey, paid across 1,099,123 renter households, or 32.7% of the Commonwealth's 3,365,732 occupied homes. Owners hold the other 67.3% of occupied Virginia homes.

Virginia households earned a median $93,170 in the same five-year period, so the $1,579 median rent equals roughly 20.3% of a typical Virginia household's gross monthly income before utilities. Renters in Virginia report more strain: 48.5% of Virginia renter households paid 30% or more of income toward rent, per ACS table B25070. Rental vacancy across Virginia measured 4.8% in the 2020-2024 DP04 housing profile, a tight market for multifamily owners.

Virginia's housing stock skews toward owner-occupied single-family homes outside its Northern Virginia counties, with a median year-built of 1984 statewide. Most of Virginia's rental demand concentrates where jobs concentrate: Fairfax County and Loudoun County together house a large share of the Commonwealth's renter population, and both counties post rental vacancy well under the Virginia statewide rate of 4.8%.

Five-year trends in Virginia

Virginia median gross rent climbed 28.0% between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS periods, from $1,234 to $1,579 a month. Median household income across Virginia grew 25.5% over the same span, from $74,222 to $93,170, so Virginia rents outran incomes by 2.5 percentage points.

Virginia gained 35,789 renter households between the two periods, a 3.4% increase, while statewide employment grew 2.9% to 4,277,711 workers. Units in five-plus buildings across Virginia rose 8.8%, adding 55,077 units, concentrated in growing Northern Virginia submarkets.

Growth was uneven across Virginia. Loudoun County's median gross rent rose 27.6% and its renter households jumped 11.9% between the two ACS periods, outpacing Fairfax County's 21.0% rent increase and 2.3% renter-household growth, per each county's 2020-2024 ACS figures.

That gap matters for anyone underwriting a Virginia multifamily deal: Loudoun County's faster renter-household growth suggests more absorption ahead, while Fairfax County's larger existing renter base of 129,906 households offers more stabilized, already-leased inventory to acquire.

Virginia county comparison

Median gross rent in Virginia's two largest Northern Virginia county hubs ranges from $2,276 in Fairfax County to $2,386 in Loudoun County, both well above the $1,579 statewide median gross rent for Virginia.

Virginia landlord, tax and transfer rules

Virginia's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act applies statewide and preempts local rent control, per Va. Code Section 55.1-1201; no Virginia locality may adopt its own landlord-tenant ordinance. Security deposits in Virginia are capped at two months' periodic rent under Section 55.1-1226, with an itemized accounting due within 45 days after the tenancy ends.

Virginia landlords may terminate a lease for nonpayment of rent after 14 days' written notice under Section 55.1-1245(F); month-to-month Virginia tenancies require 30 days' notice to end. Real estate in Virginia cities is reassessed at 100% of fair market value every two years under Section 58.1-3250. A Virginia deed transfer carries a state recordation tax of 25 cents per $100 of value under Section 58.1-801, plus a grantor tax of 50 cents per $500 under Section 58.1-802, split between the Commonwealth and the locality.

Virginia localities may also run a rental inspection program under Section 36-105.1:1, though a locality-wide inspection district is not permitted; for a multifamily building above 10 units, only a sample of 2% to 10% of units is inspected, and a building department may inspect a unit upon the sale of a Virginia rental dwelling. Virginia landlords with more than four rental units must give 60 days' notice of a rent increase or nonrenewal under Section 55.1-1204(K).

What this means if you sell in Virginia

An owner who wants to sell commercial property in Virginia is selling into a market where median gross rent rose 28.0% in five years and rental vacancy sits at just 4.8% statewide, conditions that support multifamily valuations in Fairfax County, Loudoun County and beyond. HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents put two-bedroom rents across Virginia's 133 FMR areas between $943 and $2,438, a wide range reflecting how much Virginia rents vary from rural counties to Northern Virginia.

Before listing, Virginia sellers should factor in the state's 25-cent-per-$100 recordation tax, the biennial reassessment cycle that resets taxable value, and the 45-day deposit-return deadline that applies when tenants vacate at closing. A multifamily buyer who already understands Virginia's VRLTA preemption and notice rules can close faster than one learning Virginia's rental laws for the first time.