If you're building a home, what should you use as a driveway material?  There are a lot of options!

• Pavers, Brick or Stone
• Concrete, Stamped Concrete, or Exposed Aggregate
  
• Asphalt
• Gravel
• Dirt

Each has their own advantages and disadvantages, related to cost, appearance, durability, etc. 

Let's take a look at the most common types of driveways in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  The data source for this analysis is the Harrisonburg/Rockingham Association of Realtors MLS, so it's an inexact analysis, but can still provide some helpful insights. 



The chart above shows that the most common driveway material for single family homes in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County is gravel!  Beyond gravel drives, which are likely found mostly in the County, the most frequently occurring driveway is an asphalt driveway.  Let's take a closer look at driveways of single family homes in the City of Harrisonburg, to exclude the more "rustic" driveways found on homes further out in the County . . .



In the City of Harrisonburg, a full 1 in 5 driveways is still gravel, though asphalt driveways now lead the pack, with a full 10% greater market share than concrete driveways.



The graph above analyzes "expensive" homes --- those sold above $350k in the last year in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.  Here we find an even more overwhelming share of asphalt driveways, though we also see an increase in the percentage of exposed aggregate driveways.



Perhaps most interesting is that when examining homes sold since Jan 1 2000, we find that most have had concrete driveways.  Is this perhaps the sign of a growing trend in our area, or the nation as a whole?


Notes:  In the last year, 570 single family homes sold in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County (per the HRAR MLS), and the analysis above is based on the 534 sales where driveway data was present and usable.