Getting a Mortgage in Virginia: 2026 Guide

Northern Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Fauquier, Stafford, Spotsylvania, plus the independent cities) anchors the highest-priced part of the state and carries the federal high-cost ceiling on agency limits. High-balance conforming and jumbo financing are everyday tools in NoVa.

Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk) is the second-largest Virginia metro and one of the highest-VA-volume metros in the country, anchored by Naval Station Norfolk (the largest naval base in the world) and a deep military community. Richmond, Charlottesville, and the Roanoke metro round out the state.

Virginia is a non-judicial foreclosure state under deed-of-trust power-of-sale clauses, which keeps timelines predictable. Closings move quickly relative to most of the East Coast.

For 2026, the conforming one-unit floor in Virginia is $806,500 and the FHA one-unit floor is $524,225. The Northern Virginia counties and independent cities in the DC MSA qualify at the federal high-cost ceiling of $1,209,750 for both conforming and FHA.

In NoVa you can frequently stay inside agency limits well above the standard floor on DC commuter price points, which is structurally cheaper than going jumbo. The rest of Virginia uses the floor figures.

Virginia's effective property tax rate runs around 0.87% of market value statewide, in the middle of the national range. Local rates vary meaningfully by county and city; Northern Virginia counties run somewhat higher than the rest of the state.

Always pull the actual local tax line for the specific parcel rather than running a percentage of purchase price. Virginia also exempts qualifying disabled veterans (100% service-connected disability) from real estate tax on their primary residence.

Virginia Housing (the Virginia Housing Development Authority) runs the dominant first-time buyer first mortgage program family in the state. The Virginia Housing Loan Combo pairs a discounted-rate first mortgage with optional layered down-payment assistance grant or second-lien assistance for income-eligible buyers.

Virginia Housing also runs the Granting Freedom program (down-payment assistance for veterans with service-connected disability or surviving spouses) and the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program. Funding levels and parameters are reviewed periodically.

Virginia has the second-largest eligible-veteran population in the country (behind Texas), with concentration in Hampton Roads (Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana, JEB Little Creek-Fort Story, Joint Base Langley-Eustis), Northern Virginia (Quantico, the Pentagon, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall), Fort Belvoir, Fort Gregg-Adams (formerly Fort Lee), and the broader veteran population statewide. The 2026 VA county loan limit in NoVa matches the federal high-cost ceiling of $1,209,750; the rest of Virginia uses the $806,500 baseline.

VA funding fee on a no-down-payment first-time use is 2.15% of the loan amount; subsequent use without a down payment is 3.3%. Borrowers receiving VA disability compensation are exempt. Virginia also exempts 100% service-connected disabled veterans from real estate tax on their primary residence and provides the Granting Freedom DPA.

Virginia charges a state grantor's tax of $1.00 per $1,000 of consideration on the deed (paid by the seller) plus a state recordation tax of $2.50 per $1,000 of the deed consideration plus a recordation tax on the mortgage of $2.50 per $1,000 of the loan amount (the deed and mortgage recordation taxes are typically paid by the buyer). Some Virginia localities layer on additional local components.

Plan for buyer-side closing costs of roughly 2.5 to 3.5% of the purchase price in Virginia, plus prepaid escrows. Standard purchase closings run 25 to 30 days under the non-judicial foreclosure framework.