According to a recent Fortune article, what goes up must come down — but not necessarily in the Virginia Beach metro area. While pandemic boom markets like Austin, Boise, and Las Vegas rose almost 49% (on average), there is a cooling that is coming to some fever-pitch markets. According to researcher Rick Palacios, the most recent price gains may be “purely aspirational and irrational” and will likely “come off the top really fast.”

During the prime of the pandemic, real estate markets in places like Austin, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, thrived as workers and homeowners left bigger cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. A historic housing boom for these second-tier cities — and Virginia Beach is now firmly planted on that list of second-tier cities. Virginia Beach and its metro area comprise nearly 1.8 million residents, which makes it the 37th-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

“On a year-over-year basis, inventory in Virginia Beach is down 7%. That's hardly a swift correction.”

Virginia Beach real estate has not quite risen to the highs 2005-2006, where inventory is concerned. But values have tempered to “a mere” 19% over traditional market norms. (“According to Moody's Analytics, Boise and Austin are "overvalued" by 72% and 61%, respectively,” per Fortune.) In fact, Virginia Beach is still below pre-pandemic inventory levels.

Key takeaway: Even though “the peak” may be behind us (once again), the Virginia Beach metro real estate market is still thriving and less subject to the vagaries of spikes and crashes.