Sell Your Commercial Property In West Virginia

The West Virginia rental market at a glance

West Virginia renter households totaled 183,060 in the 2020-2024 American Community Survey, 25.1% of 728,655 occupied homes statewide, with owners holding the remaining 74.9%. West Virginia's housing stock skews toward smaller buildings: just 67,305 units, 7.8% of the total, sit in structures of five or more units, per ACS table B25024.

Rental vacancy across West Virginia stood at 6.7% in the 2020-2024 DP04 housing profile, roughly in line with national norms. Median household income statewide was $59,608, so the $872 median gross rent equals about 17.6% of a typical household's annual income before taxes. Even so, 48.9% of West Virginia renter households paid 30% or more of income on rent, per ACS table B25070.

Five-year trends in West Virginia

West Virginia median gross rent rose 20.3% between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS periods, climbing from $725 to $872 a month. Median household income grew faster, up 27.6% over the same span from $46,711 to $59,608, so West Virginia incomes outran rents by 7.3 percentage points.

West Virginia lost 13,372 renter households between the two periods, a 6.8% decline, even as the state's population fell only 2.1%. Units in five-plus buildings still grew 5.3% statewide, adding 3,373 apartments, so West Virginia's larger-building stock expanded even while the renter pool it serves contracted.

West Virginia city comparison

Median gross rent across West Virginia's largest cities ranges from $785 in Parkersburg to $1,150 in Martinsburg. Renter share runs from 35.0% in Parkersburg to 56.3% in Morgantown, a college town, per each city's 2020-2024 ACS figures. West Virginia has no county-level hub pages live yet, so this table compares the state's eight largest covered cities instead.

West Virginia landlord, tax and transfer rules

West Virginia assesses all property annually as of July 1 at 60% of true and actual value, per WV Code 11-3-1. A rental sitting inside a municipality falls into Class IV, which carries the state's highest maximum regular levy, up to $2 per $100 of assessed value under WV Code 11-8-6, before any voter-approved excess levy.

West Virginia charges a state excise transfer tax of $1.10 per $500 of value plus a $20 Affordable Housing Fund fee, and counties may add up to $1.65 per $500 under WV Code 11-22-2; the grantor pays unless the contract says otherwise. On security deposits, WV Code 37-6A-2 requires a landlord to return any balance with a written itemization within 60 days of the tenancy ending, or 45 days after a new tenant moves in, whichever is shorter. No statute caps the deposit amount itself.

West Virginia has located no statute regulating rent control or preempting local rent regulation, so sellers should not assume either protection applies. Eviction in West Virginia proceeds under WV Code 55-3A-1 through a verified petition, with a hearing set 5 to 10 judicial days after filing.

What this means if you sell in West Virginia

An owner who wants to sell commercial property in West Virginia is selling into a market with thin multifamily supply: only 7.8% of units sit in five-plus buildings, and rents have risen 20.3% over five years while incomes grew even faster. Selling an apartment building in West Virginia can mean a faster close than listing on the open market, since a multifamily buyer in West Virginia can move without financing contingencies or marketing delays.

Because West Virginia's Class IV municipal levy and county transfer tax both apply to a sale closing inside city limits, pricing should account for assessed value under WV Code 11-3-1 before listing. West Virginia owners facing deferred maintenance, vacancy, or an aging asset in Charleston, Huntington, or Morgantown often find a direct sale clears those issues faster than a traditional listing.