Homes in Loudoun

Area Info

Loudoun County VA housing is of a very wide variety. From historic estates complete with equestrian facilities and wineries to garden apartments. Loudoun County has emerged at the top of the US Census rankings of wealthy counties based on household incomes.

Historically wealthy from the pre civil war era, the south central region hosts Loudoun’s portion of the Virginia Hunt Country, a unique subculture centered on an equestrian lifestyle and historic English garden culture. Multi-acre stone estates come with a provance and neighbors may inquire as to the backgrounds of prospective buyers. Construction of Dulles airport and a large water main in the mid 1960s brought the then 200 year old county entry level single family detached housing in nearby Sterling VA.

Contiguous suburbanization joined Sterling to Fairfax County’s Herndon VA. Loudoun resisted Fairfax County semi-rural land use zoning which guides development in Great Falls VA, one of America’s wealthiest zip codes.

Ribbon commercial development and shopping centers expanded along Route 7 as Sterling VA grew upscale detached and attached housing in its northern Potomac Falls area centered on the large planned community of Cascades. Sterling VA now has only smaller plots of developable infill land.

Medium to high density commercial grade condos and apartments are planned near the junction of Route 28 which has recently transformed into a freeway, and Route 7 which is also undergoing interchange construction west to Leesburg.

Further west, the county seat of Leesburg offers an array of housing types and styles including large lot mansions, mid range detached, entry level townhouses, townhouse villas exceeding 4000 square feet, garden condos, stacked flats and garaged townhouses.

From the turn of the 21st century, the Dulles South or the new contemporary village South Riding area along Route 50 began to rezone industrial land into golf course communities and a 50/50 mix of luxury townhouses and detached executive housing.

The most commonly constructed housing type in Loudoun County are townhouses, identified as single family attached housing as homeowners own both land and building in the zero lot line properties. Some townhouses are also held within a condo ownership. Stacked condos, “flats” or townhouse condos are the most popular condo style. Owners do not own land but have 1 car garages and pay a condo fee. Garaged townhomes are the most popular townhouse style and most frequently constructed housing unit due to land use restrictions and county mandated proffers around $60,000 per new unit.

Carriage, patio, courtyard or garden homes are the most popular detached home style. Newly constructing, these units are located within new contemporary villages which provide rear alley detached garages. The area between the garage and house are typically gardens or small lawns. Houses front to walkable streets.

High incomes combined with strict village cluster and rural land use controls favor production of multilevel housing as approved buildable areas are complete. Loudoun County is also considering mandating fire sprinklers for all new housing units and has a strong workforce housing program, all which point to further production of multi-family housing units.