Neighbor News
Annandale’s Housing Growth Slows as Fairfax County Expands West
With nearly two-thirds of its homes built before 1970, Annandale is increasingly seeing redevelopment and infill.
While western Fairfax County has seen decades of fast residential growth, Annandale is still one of the county’s most established communities, according to Fairfax County’s 2025 demographic report.
The report says that nearly two-thirds of Annandale’s homes were built before 1970. Out of 26,049 total housing units, about 16,000 (or 61.4%) went up before the 1970s. By comparison, many western areas like Bull Run got most of their homes much later, as Fairfax County kept growing west.
The report also shows that not much new housing has been added in Annandale lately. Just 386 units (only 1.5% of all homes) were built between 2010 and 2019, and another 197 (0.8%) from 2020 to early 2024. Altogether, homes built since 2010 make up only about 2.3% of Annandale’s total housing.
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These numbers are very different from Fairfax County’s faster-growing areas, where huge neighborhoods went up in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. For example, in Bull Run, almost 40% of homes were built in the 1980s, showing how the county expanded west.
Instead of building big new neighborhoods, most future growth in Annandale will probably come from fixing up, rebuilding, or filling in what’s already there. Since most of the area is already developed, new homes usually mean updating or replacing older properties, not building on empty land.
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Annandale’s long history shows up not just in its neighborhoods, but also in its businesses. The area is still one of Fairfax County’s biggest commercial centers, with more than 11 million square feet of office, retail, and industrial space. There’s about 3.6 million square feet of retail and another 3.5 million in offices.
As Fairfax County keeps growing, new data shows that Annandale is moving into a new stage compared to younger communities. Instead of growing outward, the area is seeing more redevelopment, home makeovers, and internal projects. These trends help keep the character of this old suburban neighborhood while still meeting changing housing needs.
