Comments on: Relative Housing Prices and Demographic Shifts in the Valley

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:23:51 +0000

Andy, I don’t think the question was why the two numbers are different, but rather why the article said approaching 17000 instead of 18000 – at least, that’s how I read it.

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By: Andy Perrine

Andy Perrine — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:39:38 +0000

Sorry to be late in commenting – thanksgiving and all.

The reason those two enrollment numbers are different is because they are for two different academic years; one is Fall 2007 total enrollment and the other is Fall 2008 on-campus enrollment. If you look on the Fall 2008 report (the second link above), you will see that the 2007 total enrollment number is 17,918 and the 2008 on-campus number is 17,964. Apples and oranges situation.

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By: JGFitzgerald

JGFitzgerald — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:05:23 +0000

Actually, it’s a number from two years ago. Probably a result of someone checking an old story instead of a current database to get the number. The same thing happened when Obama came to JMU in October. By that time, the campaign had 74 offices statewide, but the reporter chose to quote a July story, when there were only 20. At least they reported “more than 20″ which is one way of describing 74.

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By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:07:30 +0000

It is also possible that speaking in terms of general enrollment, they are referring to undergraduate enrollment, not collectively with graduate students.

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By: Brent Finnegan

Brent Finnegan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:41:15 +0000

Folks at the DNR read this blog. I’m sure they’ll see it sooner or later.

This post reminded me of something Dean Baker recently pointed out (but may not necessarily apply to this area).

“… fewer elderly people are moving into assisted living facilities even when their health would make it desirable, because they are having trouble selling their homes… Housing is always an illiquid asset and for most people it is their major source of wealth.”

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By: JGFitzgerald

JGFitzgerald — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:33:26 +0000

A sidenote: Who’s going to tell the DNR about those extra 1,000 students?

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By: Scott P. Rogers

Scott P. Rogers — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:25:44 +0000

So homes in this area retaining their value while NOVA falls steadily; will this slow the demographic drain from DC? Or persuade NOVA retirees to get out faster, before housing prices drop even more?

That second thought is an interesting one, but one that I think lots of homeowners have a hard time stomaching — it’s not fun to sell low. More than anything, the length of time it takes to market and sell a home in NOVA right now (as compared to a year or two ago) has slowed down the pace of those retirees migrating to the Valley.

Here is a bit more detail on median sales price trends, showing that last year’s median sales price for Harrisonburg & Rockingham County (Jan-Oct) was $195,000. This year, the median sales price (Jan-Oct) was $197,500 — showing a 1.28% increase.

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By: Brent Finnegan

Brent Finnegan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:48:10 +0000

It depends. I would think that many “elderly” homeowners would have bought their home before (or at the beginning) of the big bubble. Selling now to move to the Valley might be a wash, but not a huge loss.

Younger homeowners are in a very different position. They should either ride it out or rent it out.

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