A buyer looked at Zillow last week and saw that homes in Henrico go to pending in about six days. She wrote a full-price offer on a Sandston listing that had been sitting for a month. She got it accepted at asking, then wondered later whether she had left money on the table. Her mistake was reasonable. The county-level numbers on the big portals average a market that behaves like two different markets, and the gap between them is where most of the interesting decisions in Henrico actually happen right now.
The two Henricos hiding inside one median
The countywide picture looks calm. Over the three months ending May 2026, Henrico County home prices were down 0.3% compared to the same period last year, selling for a median price of $419K. Homes sold after 15 days on the market compared to 13 days last year. There were 454 homes sold in May. The Zillow Home Value Index put the average Henrico home at $413,916, up 1.5% over the past year, with homes going to pending in around 6 days as of the end of June 2026.
That single median hides a spread of more than $200,000 between the county's two halves. In 2026, western Henrico around Short Pump, Glen Allen, and Wyndham sees medians of $450,000 to $520,000 or more, while eastern Henrico around Highland Springs and Sandston has medians of $245,000 to $270,000. The eastern zip codes 23223 and 23150 sit toward the bottom of that range, and the Tuckahoe and Gayton corridor in the west sits at the top.
Here is the part that gets buried. These eastern Henrico areas have seen some of the strongest percentage appreciation in recent years as buyers priced out of western Henrico have discovered their relative value. Appreciation rates of 6-8% annually in eastern Henrico have outpaced even the already-strong appreciation in western areas. If you are comparing sub-markets on price alone, you are looking at a snapshot of a market whose growth rate is not evenly distributed.
Where the county's money is actually going
The reason eastern and northern Henrico are moving faster in percentage terms is not mysterious. Follow the public dollars.
Henrico County officials on March 5, 2026 marked the start of construction of the Magellan Parkway extension, which will bridge over Interstate 95. The new four-lane road will provide access from the site formerly planned as GreenCity and now known as Best Products Reimagined. The Central Virginia Transportation Authority funded about $18.57 million of the $36M in funds used for the Magellan Parkway project.
That road is the connector for something much larger. Developer Markel Eagle Partners is building the 880-unit Level Green residential community on adjacent property along Scott Road at the former Scott Farm site. The connected project will feature all for-sale units, a mix of single-family detached homes, townhomes and condominiums. The Level Green development is currently breaking ground on the infrastructure, with Markel Eagle Partners President Ricky Core, Jr. saying the developer hopes to build in late 2026 and welcome residents in 2027.
The commercial half sits right next door. The 93-acre Best Products Reimagined property had been zoned for a 17,000-seat arena, 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail, two 300-room hotels, 2,400 residential units and green space. The project's master plan now calls for 1.9 million square feet of office, 135,000 square feet of retail, three hotels with 600 rooms apiece, and just over 2,100 residential units.
Roughly 3,000 for-sale homes are being added along a corridor whose typical resale today prices at less than half the western Henrico median. The buyer question is no longer "what is Sandston worth in 2026," it is "what is Sandston worth once the arena traffic and the Level Green comps land in 2027 and 2028."
The Fall Line Trail changes the map
The other piece of the puzzle is the trail. The Henrico County segment of the Fall Line Trail is planned to be 7.5 miles long and to be constructed in 8 phases. The County's trail segment will span from Bryan Park Avenue to Chickahominy River at the boundary line between Henrico County and Hanover County. The wider system is bigger than the county segment. Once completed, the paved multi-use trail will span approximately 43 miles between Ashland and Petersburg, including a portion of northern Henrico County in the Fairfield and Brookland Magisterial Districts.
Planning, environmental review, and design are underway, with construction starting in 2026. A dedicated pedestrian and bike crossing over I-95 will link the trail directly into the Best Products Reimagined footprint, which is a real amenity added to an area that historically had none of that kind of infrastructure.
Trail-adjacent housing in other Virginia markets has consistently priced above comparable interior stock. Nothing about that pattern is guaranteed to repeat here, but the geography of the investment is worth reading before you write an offer.
What your budget actually buys in 2026
Once you set aside the county median and look at sub-markets, the picture sharpens:
- Under $300,000. You are shopping eastern Henrico. Ranch-style homes built after the war are common, along with Craftsman-style homes today. Prices range from $200,000 to $300,000 for smaller homes. Highland Springs is a Richmond suburb with a small-town feel, founded in the late 19th century along an electric streetcar line. The community features a mix of contemporary and classic homes, including Cape Cods, bungalows, and split-level ranches built primarily in the mid-to-late 20th century. Newer properties, such as townhouses and two-story contemporary homes, are also present.
- $300,000 to $450,000. A wider board. Eastern Henrico gets you larger lots and newer construction from builders like Boyd Homes and Eagle Construction. In the west, you are looking at older resale or smaller footprints.
- $450,000 to $700,000. Western Henrico single-family. Short Pump, Glen Allen, and the Tuckahoe corridor sit here.
- $700,000 and up. Wyndham and pockets of the Gayton corridor, along with newer western Henrico construction.
The same Henrico County Public Schools district serves both halves, and Henrico County's real property tax rate is $0.85 per $100 of assessed value in 2026. For a home assessed at $420,000, the annual property tax would be approximately $3,570. This is meaningfully lower than Richmond City's $1.20/100 rate.
The friction buyers underestimate
Now back to the woman writing full-price offers on a 30-day-old listing.
Days-on-market is the single most misread number in Henrico right now. The countywide "six days to pending" figure is dragged down by hot western zip codes. In eastern Henrico, homes sell after 35 days on the market compared to the national average of 53 days, and the median sale price for homes in Eastern Henrico, Sandston over the last 12 months is $396,250, down 3% from the median home sale price over the previous 12 months.
That gap creates two very different negotiation postures inside the same county:
- In western Henrico, an offer written at asking with standard contingencies is often outbid. You are competing with buyers relocating from higher-cost markets.
- In eastern Henrico, particularly for older stock, homes routinely sit long enough that price reductions, closing cost credits, and repair concessions are on the table. The counter to a low offer is not necessarily rejection.
A second piece of transaction friction worth flagging: financing eligibility differs by geography. Certain parcels in the 23150 and 23223 zip codes qualify for USDA rural development loans, which allow zero-down financing on eligible properties. That option does not exist in Short Pump or Wyndham. For a buyer with limited cash and strong income, that single fact can change which sub-market makes sense before any offer is written.
Third, appraisals in transitional corridors are lagging the pipeline. When a large development is announced and priced but not yet built, comparable sales still reflect the pre-announcement market. Sellers ask for the future value. Appraisers only see the past twelve months. In eastern and northern Henrico this year, that gap is where deals stall.
A short FAQ
Is the countywide median still useful? As a summary of the whole county, yes. As a guide to any specific offer, no. Ask for the sub-market median and the median for your target zip code before you set a number.
Will the arena actually get built? Henrico announced it is rebidding the development rights for the former Best Products headquarters campus, the site where the failed $2.3 billion GreenCity development had been planned. GreenCity officially met its demise after developers failed to make more than $5 million in overdue payments by a March 13 deadline. The county owns the land again and has restarted the process. The road, sewer, and trail infrastructure is being built regardless.
How do I read appreciation forecasts? Metro-wide forecasts smooth over sub-markets. As one benchmark, Realtor.com predicts median home sale prices for metro Richmond will rise by 6.9% in 2026. That number is an average of sub-markets rising at different speeds. In Henrico, expect the eastern and northern corridors to run above that figure and mature western neighborhoods to run closer to it.
Ready to price a Henrico decision correctly?
If you are weighing a specific street against the county median, we can pull the right sub-market comps, walk you through what the Fall Line Trail phasing looks like near your target block, and help you separate a fair 2026 price from an inflated one. Reach out to The Lemus Group and start your Richmond home search with bilingual support available.
