Middle Peninsula Virginia Housing Market: Prices & Sales Trends

Knowing the Market Trends in the Middle Peninsula can help both buyers and sellers time a potential purchase or sale. One major factor to keep in mind with the trends is that these are based on closing date, not list date. Closings often occur around 30 days after a property goes under contract. With most of the data, I'll be pulling from Essex County, Gloucester County, King William County, King & Queen County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County.

Below I'll go over:

I. The basics of what you need to know:

II. Trends over the years

III. Median sales prices (live charts) of individual counties over the past 4ish years

IV. More recent trends over the years across all 6 counties

V. More regional trends:

VI. County by county breakdown

I. The basics of what you need to know:

• For sellers considering when to sell

  • It can be beneficial to list when prices tend to be highest (late Spring & Summer, while December-February are some of the lowest priced months)

  • For those buying and selling, it can complicate things further depending on preferences as well as the price difference of what you are buying vs what you are selling, with the highest price property of the 2 often being best to get seasonal priority

• For buyers

  • Those looking for a deal may want to buy when the prices tend to be lowest (December-February, primarily from the prior month's contracts)

  • Those that need concessions may want to choose a time when concessions are more likely (December-February, primarily from the prior month's contracts)

  • If prices are slumping over a year or more (which hasn't happened in any of the data years below), it may be better to wait to buy and choose renting instead

  • Some looking for high inventory in order to have the highest selection may want to buy when inventory tends to peak. While this data for the middle peninsula isn't available below due to limited data sources for the middle peninsula, the time of least inventory tends to be December-February.

II. Trends over the years:

Middle Peninsula Median Sales Price Over Time May 2021-July 2026 - data per CBRAR MLS

If we were to present this data in a typical way, some of the data in certain graphs below would be noticeably misleading due to low numbers, where it's best to look at some composite tables that wouldn't be present in a similar way in bigger markets like markets in Hampton Roads & Greater Richmond that have higher numbers where data trends are better identified without needing some of the quirky extras present here.

For instance, rather than looking at appreciation from a single month of the year vs the prior year, which would be fine with larger markets, the below graph is exclusively resale homes, and representing the months of May-July each year.

May–July resale-only median $/sq. ft. change across years 2015-2026

Period	Median $/sq. ft.	Resale sample	Change
2015 → 2016*	$115.16 → $117.64	107 → 278	+2.15%
2016 → 2017*	$117.64 → $125.49	278 → 298	+6.67%
2017 → 2018	$125.49 → $126.74	298 → 286	+1.00%
2018 → 2019	$126.74 → $134.47	286 → 356	+6.10%
2019 → 2020	$134.47 → $141.75	356 → 429	+5.41%
2020 → 2021	$141.75 → $173.61	429 → 388	+22.47%
2021 → 2022	$173.61 → $190.49	388 → 344	+9.73%
2022 → 2023	$190.49 → $199.54	344 → 256	+4.75%
2023 → 2024	$199.54 → $208.10	256 → 279	+4.29%
2024 → 2025	$208.10 → $222.63	279 → 211	+6.98%
2025 → 2026	$222.63 → $227.25	211 → 208	+2.07%

For the primary comparable period, 2017–2026:

• Compound annual increase: 6.82%

• Simple average annual change: 6.98%

• Total increase: 81.09%

• Average sample: 306 confirmed resales per year

*Pre-2017 closing-date coverage is incomplete, so those first two comparisons are context rather than part of the primary series.

Data analyzed & quoted using CBRAR data & GPT Business.

Average Seasonal Fluctuation of Median House Prices of Resale for Price Per Square Foot Over the Years:

Top Line: Max Monthly Median Price/Sq Ft Over the Years

Mid Line: Average Monthly Median Price/Sq Ft Over the Years

Lower Line: Lowest Monthly Median Price/Sq Ft Over the Years

Resale Month to Month Transition Average & Range for Price Per Square Foot:

Moral of the Story in the Middle Peninsula: List in March (for April Closings) to October (for November closings)

Here's is a 13 month trend over 2022-2025 averaged with some of the seasonal factors including those impacting moves and the seasonal trends impacting visual media & showings to help identify the seasonal patterns:

III. Live Graphs of Median Sales Price by County in Middle Peninsula of Virginia (Best on Desktop View - Listed in Alphabetical Order):

Essex County Median Sales Prices

Gloucester County Median Sales Prices

King & Queen County

King William County

Mathews County

Middlesex County

IV. More recent trends over the years across all 6 counties

As with sales prices, the average number of homes sold per county tends to be higher in the summer and lower in the winter.

Average Number of Homes Sold Per Middle Peninsula County Over Time - data per Redfin

As with sales prices & composite sales over time, the sale to list price ratio tends to be higher in the late spring & summer and lower in the winter.

Sale to List Price Ratio Over Time - data per Redfin

V. More Regional Trends:

The following is based on data excluding Essex County:

Closed Sales Across Gloucester County, King & Queen County, King William County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County in Quarter 2 of 2025 & 2026

Median Sold Price Across Gloucester County, King & Queen County, King William County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County in Quarter 2 of 2025 & 2026

Median Days on Market Across Gloucester County, King & Queen County, King William County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County in Quarter 2 of 2025 & 2026

Active Listings Across Gloucester County, King & Queen County, King William County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County in Quarter 2 of 2025 & 2026

Months of Supply Across Gloucester County, King & Queen County, King William County, Mathews County, & Middlesex County in Quarter 2 of 2025 & 2026

VI. County by County Breakdown (Excluding Essex) of 2026 Quarter 2 vs 2025 Quarter 2 for Closed Sales, Pending Sales, Median Sold Price, Sold Volume, Average Sold to List Ratio, Median Days on Market, Active Listings, & Months of Supply

Gloucester County

King & Queen County

King William County

Mathews County

Middlesex County