RICHMOND, Va. — A presentation in front of the Virginia Housing Commission called the Economic, Demographic and Housing Trends in Virginia revealed that remote work is pushing more families past the suburbs into rural areas.

"The smaller counties, the rural counties of Virginia, they had been shedding population, shedding residents. Now they're the biggest destination in Virginia," said Hamilton Lombard with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.

Statewide, home sales are up about 5% compared to last year, but housing inventory remains tight.

Experts say state and local leaders need to partner up to build more homes and improve affordability across Virginia. But despite the job losses and high mortgage rates, the housing market is still moving and remote work is giving people more opportunities to live further away from urban areas.

"Remote work is something that's very different than we've seen really in the past," Lombard said. "The closest parallel is really the construction of the interstates after World War II. It's just allowing people to live much further out."

In this meeting, officials also shared that Virginia's economy is growing slower than the rest of the country. They say the federal contracting cuts have hurt the job market the most, with more than 4,000 jobs lost this year.

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