The Rural Roller Coaster

Contract activity for the week of November 2 - 8, 2025 in the Virginia Countryside and West Virginia Panhandle area was down 6.3% compared to the same seven-day period last year.

Key Takeaways

• We’re seeing two major factors impacting the market. One is the normal and completely expected seasonal slowdown. In September and early October, these more rural areas were posting roughly 200 weekly new contracts, and that has now dropped below 170. Not bad – it’s just that time of year. But the other factor is the government shutdown. It hasn’t been disastrous for the region’s housing, but the longer it goes, the worse it will get.
• The Countryside market (Shenandoah, Fauquier, Warren, Clarke and Frederick Counties and Winchester City) had 10.4% more new contracts last week.
• The West Virginia Panhandle (Morgan, Jefferson and Berkeley Counties) had a 19.4% drop.

Why It Matters

• As we have noted before, these smaller areas are going to see wide swings in percentage changes from week to week.
• Surprisingly, on average, homes took 8 days less time to sell last week (37 days) than last year (45 days).

The Real Estate Details

• Virginia Countryside was up 10.4%, and is up 3.8% year-to-date.
• West Virginia Panhandle was down 19.4% and is down 5.4% year-to-date.