Question: What is the ratio of bathrooms to bedrooms in Arlington?
Answer: Somebody recently asked me what the bathroom-to-bedroom ratio is in Arlington and I ended up exploring Arlington market data through the lens of bedrooms. I might be the only person who finds this interesting but if you find yourself daydreaming about things like the number of bedrooms sold in Arlington and the cost per bedroom, then this is the article you’ve been waiting for!
What is a Bedroom?
Unlike many other jurisdictions, Arlington doesn’t have its definition of a bedroom and defers to the Virginia Residential Building Code. I wrote about it back in 2016, linked here. The Virginia requirements are pretty simple: minimum 70 SqFt, 7’+ ceiling heights, proper egress window, heated, and ventilation.
Arlington’s Housing Market by Bedrooms
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Over the past five years, an average of 7,673 bedrooms have sold each year. 56% of bedrooms sold are in single-family homes, 25% in condos, and 19% in townhouse/duplex properties.
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There’s an average of 600 new bedrooms being delivered each year via new construction
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The average cost per bedroom has decreased in 2023 causing an overall decrease in the cost per bedroom in Arlington, despite small increases in the cost per bedroom for single-family and townhouse/duplex homes
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There are an average of 2.7 bedrooms in each home sold in Arlington. I expected to find that the number of bedrooms per transaction increased in the spring, suggesting that larger homes are listed during the spring market, but the average size of homes by bedroom count is consistent each month of the year always between 2.5 and 2.8 bedrooms per home sold.
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There is an average of .8 full bathrooms for every bedroom sold. The ratio for single-family detached homes is .73 full bathrooms per bedroom
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The second table below shows data from 2022-2023 sales
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The data suggests that 4BR homes are the most in-demand, followed closely by 3BR and 5BR, and for good reason…4BR homes have the best cost per bedroom of any size home
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If you are buying a home with 2-6 bedrooms, you’re most likely going to pay at or above the asking price
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The most expensive zip code per bedroom is 22209 at $494,000/BR and the least expensive is 22204 at $244,000/BR. The average cost per bedroom in a single-family home in 22207 is $349,000.
If you’d like to discuss buying, selling, investing, or renting, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected].
If you’d like a question answered in my weekly column or to discuss buying, selling, renting, or investing, please send an email to [email protected]. To read any of my older posts, visit the blog section of my website at EliResidential.com. Call me directly at (703) 539-2529.
Video summaries of some articles can be found on YouTube on the Ask Eli, Live With Jean playlist.
Eli Tucker is a licensed Realtor in Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland with RLAH Real Estate, 4040 N Fairfax Dr #10C Arlington VA 22203. (703) 390-9460.
