Home sales, prices up in Historic Triangle -- taxes could follow

Good morning! Today is our six-month anniversary. We will discuss the growth in home sales in the Historic Triangle; the growth in sales prices, and budget pressures at our local public broadcasters.

Jul 21, 2025

June sales increases brought good news for home sellers….and danger warnings for taxpayers in the Historic Triangle.

Home sales increased by double digits in the Historic Triangle last month from June of the previous year, according to the monthly report from the Virginia Association of Realtors.

Prices grew right along with those sales except in Williamsburg, where the median home price dropped 13%, to $377,000, according to the study.

Williamsburg home sales increased 50% to 24 homes last month. Because the market is considerably smaller than the two neighboring counties, the percentage changes tend to be more radical.

James City County’s home sales increased 13.5 percent in June, to 168 homes sold. Median home prices increased 9.6 percent to $485,000, the most expensive of the three localities in the Historic Triangle.

York County saw the largest jump in home prices – up 14.5 percent to $477,500. Home sales in York County were up 12.62 percent from June 2024, with 116 homes sold, according to the Realtors.

“At the heart of it is a supply-demand imbalance,” we were told by Ryan Price, senior economist for the Realtors group. “We have a lot more demand than we have availability for housing.”

Homeowners in the three localities have already seen significant increases in their average tax bills. James City County tax bills have gone up an average of 21% over the past two years. York County recently approved an $8 million tax increase, with its first rate increase in nine years.

James City and Williamsburg officials make a point of saying they have not increased their tax rate. But they can count on rising home prices to do the work for them, since the more home values go up, the larger the tax bite, unless rates are lowered.

WHRO CEO Bert Schmidt, left (WHRO photo)

Editor’s Note: Williamsburg Watch is a media partner of WHRO, and our publisher is on the board of a Lancaster newspaper owned by the PBS station in Harrisburg, PA.

Public broadcaster WHRO is looking at a variety of cost cutting moves to deal with a $1.9 million budget cut pushed through by the Trump Administration.

The U.S. Senate voted last week to approve a recission package passed by House Republicans that would claw back money Congress had already appropriated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The proposal was at the behest of President Donald J. Trump, who accuses public stations of being biased against conservative viewpoints.

“We’ve been expecting this for months now (and) have been planning for awhile,” WHRO CEO Bert Schmidt told us.

WHRO, which is owned by Hampton Roads’ 21 school divisions, operates five radio stations and five TV stations, including WHRV and WHRO.

Over the past 64 years WHRO has expanded its programs to include news, music, PBS programs and educational resources for schools across the state, including online courses and a web-based library of multimedia learning objects.

Half of WHRO’s budget goes to payroll, so the group will use attrition to bring down staff sizes, Schmidt said.

Half of the station group’s $20 million annual budget is restricted by donors to specific programs. Another quarter is for fixed costs like power and insurance.

That leaves about $5 million to play with, and the recent cut amounts to nearly half that figure.

The group has received permission to dip into its endowment to pay some upcoming bills, Schmidt said, but the long-term solution is to find new sources of revenue. He has launched a campaign to ask viewers and listeners to provide emergency funding at this link.

“We don’t have to take a chainsaw to it, we will take a scalpel and do in a smart businesslike fashion,” he added.

Schmidt blamed the administration for cutting funds as part of its attack on independent news media. The President has filed lawsuits against ABC, CBS, the Wall Street Journal and The Des Moines Register.

Given the economic pressures on traditional media, Schmidt predicted “non-profit is the future of journalism.”

“Commercial media is not helping this country at all,” Schmidt said because commercial pressures are forcing programming decisions that generate division.

“That’s the last thing we want to be is like commercial media, because (it) is driving people apart and we want to bring people together.”

Happy Birthday to us...6 months and counting!

Today is Williamsburg Watch’s sixth-month anniversary, and I want to thank all of you who have come along for the ride.

I launched the newsletter after nearly five decades in the news business, because I was distressed at how the implosion of news media has left news deserts in our communities.

Good journalism does more than just cover press releases and public announcements. It asks tough questions and digs where local officials would rather we didn’t.

When I sent out the first edition Jan. 21, the goal was to serve as watch dog over how local officials and institutions spend your money, educate your children and grandchildren and make decisions that impact your life.

Our coverage is aimed at the people in Williamsburg, James City County and York County who turn out to vote in local elections and are actively involved in the community — a minority of residents, frankly. We purposely chose not to cover sports because it would be a distraction from the intensive work of poring through government reports and meetings – and it’s already being done.

Williamsburg Watch has been growing rapidly, with nearly 1,800 subscribers to our online newsletter and another 500 following us on social media. Each of our emails is viewed an average of 1,950 times, and our open rate has remained steady around 60%, well above the average for email publications.

I am proud to report that I have managed to upset both conservatives and liberals, so we must be doing something right!

Here are just some of the kind words we have received from readers who have pledged to subscribe when we switch to a paid model:

“You are helping to spread the local news in the way of the old small town dailies on which we depended. It is a new format for the 21^st century, much needed and very much appreciated" – Steve.

“Digby, thank you for using your passion and skills to create this useful source of local news. ..Your reporting on local budgets and projects has been excellent. Thank you” – Elizabeth.

“Great community service from an experienced media hand,” — Robert.

“I have forwarded your articles to both conservatives and liberals. Most of us have no idea what’s going on in Williamsburg and what our supervisors are doing. We all thank you for what you are doing.” — Karen

“I want to support you because we need reporting that is fair and balanced….especially now. Your support of the communities by informing us and educating us on government facts and issues is helping us focus on ourselves and our neighbors” – no name given.

What’s next? We are working to sustain three editions a week and plan to go daily before the year is up.

Eventually, we will be charging our subscribers to read our work. That will provide the resources to hire more journalists and expand our coverage – and it will be the true test of whether we are providing value to our communities.

In the meantime, please spread the word by hitting that “share” button and letting your colleagues and friends get the word. And please fill out the survey below to tell us what we could be doing better:

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