It's rather puzzling.  Despite fewer (and fewer) townhome buyers, prices are holding relatively steady....



One of my clients hypothesized that perhaps prices are holding steady because the townhomes that buyers are actually buying these days (2010/2011) are new townhomes, and are thus worth more. 

To test this theory (which I definitely agreed with) I examined the median age of the townhomes that sold for each year between 2006 and 2010....



Based on the information above, it doesn't seem that townhomes are holding steady in price because buyers are just buying new townhomes these days.  In fact, the reverse is true, more of the townhomes purchased 4 and 5 years ago were new than of those purchased in 2010/2011.

Examining the data from another perspective, I thought I'd check the percentage of the townhome market that is made up of sales of new townhomes....



Again, the data shows that fewer and fewer (proportionally) of the townhomes being purchased are new townhomes --- thus the theory that prices are holding because newer townhomes are what is actually selling does not seem to hold true.

So, what could it be?  Any other theories that I can test?  Why are townhome values so resilient in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County?