Hampton Roads Rent Report - July 2023

Rents fell slightly in Hampton Roads. And climate change poses a threat to rental affordability. In July, the average rent across all units was $1,771 a month. That's down slightly from $1,812 in June.
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The averages for each unit type:

Studio: $1,336
1-Bedroom: $1,1515
2-Bedroom: $1,722
3+ Bedroom: $2,291

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Key Takeaways

Chesapeake and Virginia Beach continue to be the most expensive cities for renters. Portsmouth remained the least expensive with the largest drop in rent month/month (around $50).

Housing Has A Climate Problem.

Last month, we highlighted how affordable housing was being concentrated to neighborhoods in Norfolk that are most vulnerable to flooding and will experience managed retreat in the coming decades. We want to expand on that research a bit more below to highlight the growing risks between rental affordability and climate adaptation.

Looking at data over 2023, Norfolk has around eighteen census tracts that reliably trend ‘affordable’. Meaning, they tend to have 1 bedroom rents at or below $1,200 a month. Nine of those tracts are in areas that will either partially or fully experience managed retreat due to flooding in the coming decades.  Managed retreat involves relocating people and buildings out of harm’s way due to flood risk. These areas include parts of Willoughby, East Beach, Algonquin Park, parts of Park Place, and Colonial Place.

The Problem?

There are 21,644 renter occupied households in census tracts that will either fully or partially experience managed retreat.  That comprises around 41% of the city’s 52,438 total renter occupied households. In other words, 41% of the city’s rental households live in neighborhoods that, as Paul Fraim put it, will “contain water all the time.”

Norfolk is investing in some neighborhoods in order to keep them dry, like Downtown, near ODU, NSU, and Chesterfield Heights. But rents tend to be higher there, with 1 bedroom rents averaging around $1,511. To make matters worse, there are around 9,698 apartment units in these neighborhoods and real estate investment firms own at least 56% of them

In 2016, Norfolk adopted Vision 2100 as part of their climate adaptation plan which color codes parts of the city in Red, which will be saved, and Yellow which  will require managed retreat.

The Question

Norfolk is facing the double-barrel risk of dwindling affordable housing and increased flooding. With half of Norfolk’s affordable neighborhoods set to be abandoned in the coming decades, renters that stay in Norfolk may be forced to move to neighborhoods where rents are higher and financial firms own over half of all multifamily housing. As the seas rise, so do the rents. Unfortunately for renters, that means more pressure on them.

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Bonus:

CityWork to present at the Royal Geographical Society

CityWork will be presenting research on the relationship between affordable multifamily housing and Norfolk's climate adaptation plan. Specifically, we show how climate adaptation and the financialization of housing are on a collision course. What we've included above is a small sample of a project we've been working on for months now and as soon as we get permission to share the conference video, we will!


CityWork was in the News

CityWork Director Alex Fella was recently interviewed by WHRO's Ryan Murphy about our June rent report and the growing concentration of affordable rent in flood-prone areas. Check out the story here.

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