Never let it be said that I’m unwilling to ignore evidence that contradicts my pet theories, in this case my argument that speculation is driving much of the increase in Northern Virginia property values. Today’s Clarke Times-Courier quotes George Mason University regional economist Stephen Fuller to the effect that super-heated job creation in Northern Virginia accounts for the spectacular rise in real estate prices. Sayeth the Times-Courier:
Job growth is running so much stronger than last year,” Fuller said. “We are so strong it’s almost embarrassing.” The [Washington] region added a whopping 287,000 new jobs between 1999 and 2004, according to the GMU Trends Report. And that trend is continuing. Between April 2004 and April 2005, an additional 84,400 jobs were created–53,900 of them in Northern Virginia.
“There were seven times as many new jobs created in Northern Virginia as suburban Maryland,” Fuller said. “We are fat,” he added. “We are better than any market in the United States. “In fact, the Northern Virginia economy has outperformed every other metropolitan region in the country over the past five to six years, the report says. And it seems it is just going to get better.”
Last year was the best since 2000,” Fuller said, “and this year is going to be better than last year.”
