Population trends indicate housing market has more room to grow

The population of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County is increasing.

If we take the average of 2000 and 2001 home sales as a baseline portion of the population to be buying in any given year, and then we project forward based on actual population growth, we can conclude that....

• More people than usual bought between 2001 and 2007.  (housing boom)
   
  
• Fewer people than usual bought between 2008 and 2013.  (housing bust, and then recovery)
   
  
• There is further room for growth in the number of buyers per year in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

Based on the data presented above, I believe the new "usual" number of people to be buying per year may be around 1,150 home sales -- which is still a decent amount of growth beyond the number of home sales (1,013) seen in 2013.

And here is the data behind the graph....