Best Places to Buy Rental Property in Virginia (2026)

Price and rent point the same way in Virginia: Martinsville, the cheapest city with enough data, also returns the most, 10.4 percent gross on a $110,000 median price and $950 in asking rent. Danville is close behind at 9.8 percent. One caution on the rent side: in Norfolk houses asked a median of $2,300 while the all-type median was $1,850. For a house, compare house rents with house sale prices; substituting the house rent into a ratio whose denominator is a mixed sale median only makes the number look better, not more representative. Chesapeake, the busiest market on the list with about 283 closings a month, sits fourteenth of 20 at 7.1 percent. Two cities on this list carry a confirmed-close median as well as an asking median. Woodbridge has the largest close sample, 426, with a median of $2,700, 4 percent below the $2,800 asking median; the samples are separate, so this is not evidence that the same homes leased above or below their advertised rent. Measured against the whole state, these are cheap markets: a median of $313,750 here against $439,000 statewide. The table shows the 20 highest-yielding markets among 60 Virginia cities meeting the coverage requirements; the yield range above describes the markets shown.

The ranking

Gross yield here is an asking rental yield screen: twelve times the median asking rent over the median closed price, before taxes, insurance, vacancy, management or repairs. Sales use municipal boundaries. Rental listings use the associated city name and may cover a wider postal area. The ratio therefore compares related, but not perfectly matched, market samples, and a home bought at the median price does not necessarily earn the median rent. Confirmed-close medians appear where at least 30 confirmed lease closes were recorded in the window.

City by city

1. Martinsville, 10.4 percent gross

At $110,000 to buy and $950 a month to rent, Martinsville yields 10.4 percent gross on 227 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $77 per square foot. The Martinsville market page carries the monthly figures.

2. Danville, 9.8 percent gross

The numbers: $147,075 median closed price across 284 closings, $1,200 median asking rent across 365 listings, 9.8 percent gross. Houses there closed at about $97 per square foot. Full detail is on the Danville market page.

3. Bristol, 8.8 percent gross

At $185,000 to buy and $1,350 a month to rent, Bristol yields 8.8 percent gross on 175 tracked closings. See the Bristol page for the property mix and the price band.

4. Petersburg, 8.5 percent gross

Homes in Petersburg closed at a median of $198,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,399, a gross yield of 8.5 percent. Full detail is on the Petersburg market page.

5. Hampton, 7.8 percent gross

Homes in Hampton closed at a median of $276,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,784, a gross yield of 7.8 percent. Full detail is on the Hampton market page.

6. Portsmouth, 7.7 percent gross

The numbers: $265,000 median closed price across 763 closings, $1,700 median asking rent across 1,065 listings, 7.7 percent gross. See the Portsmouth page for the property mix and the price band.

7. Locust Grove, 7.4 percent gross

Locust Grove ranks seventh on yield but only fifteenth on entry price: the $2,500 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. The numbers: $404,073 median closed price across 226 closings, $2,500 median asking rent across 126 listings, 7.4 percent gross. Full detail is on the Locust Grove market page.

8. Glen Allen, 7.4 percent gross

Rent is what puts Glen Allen eighth here; on price alone it would sit fourteenth of 20. Homes in Glen Allen closed at a median of $402,640 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,484, a gross yield of 7.4 percent. Houses there closed at about $221 per square foot. The Glen Allen market page carries the monthly figures.

9. Woodbridge, 7.3 percent gross

Woodbridge is one of the cities with a confirmed-close sample: 426 closes with a median of $2,700 beside a $2,800 asking median, a 4 percent difference between two separate samples, not a measured gap on the same listings. The numbers: $458,955 median closed price across 189 closings, $2,800 median asking rent across 2,004 listings, 7.3 percent gross. See the Woodbridge page for the property mix and the price band.

10. Suffolk, 7.3 percent gross

At $380,000 to buy and $2,300 a month to rent, Suffolk yields 7.3 percent gross on 681 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $203 per square foot. See the Suffolk page for the property mix and the price band.

11. Newport News, 7.2 percent gross

Homes in Newport News closed at a median of $290,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,750, a gross yield of 7.2 percent. See the Newport News page for the property mix and the price band.

12. Chesterfield, 7.2 percent gross

Chesterfield ranks twelfth on yield but only eighteenth on entry price: the $2,575 median asking rent is doing the work, not a cheap purchase. At $430,000 to buy and $2,575 a month to rent, Chesterfield yields 7.2 percent gross on 785 tracked closings. See the Chesterfield page for the property mix and the price band.

13. North Chesterfield, 7.2 percent gross

North Chesterfield moves fast, 6 days from listing to contract at the median, which matters more than its 7.2 percent yield if you cannot close quickly. The numbers: $364,950 median closed price across 799 closings, $2,175 median asking rent across 541 listings, 7.2 percent gross. Full detail is on the North Chesterfield market page.

14. Chesapeake, 7.1 percent gross

Homes in Chesapeake closed at a median of $408,065 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,400, a gross yield of 7.1 percent. Houses there closed at about $218 per square foot. The Chesapeake market page carries the monthly figures.

15. Roanoke, 7.0 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Roanoke far: it is fifth cheapest on this list and fifteenth on yield, with rent of $1,350 against a $230,000 median price. At $230,000 to buy and $1,350 a month to rent, Roanoke yields 7.0 percent gross on 847 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $154 per square foot. The Roanoke market page carries the monthly figures.

16. Mechanicsville, 6.9 percent gross

Homes in Mechanicsville went under contract in a median of 6 days, so a buyer chasing its 6.9 percent yield needs financing ready before the search. Homes in Mechanicsville closed at a median of $415,000 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $2,395, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. The Mechanicsville market page carries the monthly figures.

17. Norfolk, 6.9 percent gross

Norfolk is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: eleventh on price, seventeenth on yield, because a $321,500 home there rents for only $1,850. Homes in Norfolk closed at a median of $321,500 over the last six months and the median asking rent in the last twelve months was $1,850, a gross yield of 6.9 percent. See the Norfolk page for the property mix and the price band.

18. Spotsylvania, 6.7 percent gross

In Spotsylvania the two samples agree: 32 confirmed lease closes have a median of $2,672, within a few percent of the $2,700 asking median, though the samples are separate rather than paired. At $485,000 to buy and $2,700 a month to rent, Spotsylvania yields 6.7 percent gross on 328 tracked closings. See the Spotsylvania page for the property mix and the price band.

19. Salem, 6.7 percent gross

A low entry price does not carry Salem far: it is eighth cheapest on this list and nineteenth on yield, with rent of $1,600 against a $287,475 median price. At $287,475 to buy and $1,600 a month to rent, Salem yields 6.7 percent gross on 188 tracked closings. Houses there closed at about $172 per square foot. Full detail is on the Salem market page.

20. Christiansburg, 6.7 percent gross

Christiansburg is cheaper than its yield rank suggests: tenth on price, twentieth on yield, because a $306,000 home there rents for only $1,700. The numbers: $306,000 median closed price across 262 closings, $1,700 median asking rent across 534 listings, 6.7 percent gross. The Christiansburg market page carries the monthly figures.

How this ranking is built

• •Cities: every Virginia city where Resideline tracked at least 100 closings inside the municipal boundary in its reporting window (six or twelve months) and at least 50 rental listings under the city's name since October 3, 2025: 60 cities qualify and the table shows the 20 highest-yielding.
• •Prices: the median price homes closed at inside the city limits, from Resideline's tracked closings; the state comparison uses the statewide median of $439,000 across 61,398 closings.
• •Rents: the median advertised rent on rental listings Resideline tracked in the last twelve months, all property types, measured on the listings that carry the city's name (a postal footprint, wider than the city line in some places).
• •Confirmed-close medians: Observed rent blends two kinds of record: confirmed lease closes extracted from property records, and the final asking rent on listings that left Resideline tracking without a recorded close. Where a city has at least 30 confirmed closes in the window, their median is printed beside the asking figure; in the last twelve months about a quarter of Resideline's close episodes are confirmed closes. The asking and confirmed-close samples are separate, not paired, so a difference between their medians is not a measured gap on the same listings.
• •What is missing: taxes, insurance, vacancy, management and repairs, which turn a gross yield into a net one, and the unit mix, which differs between what sells and what rents.

Sources and related pages

• •Resideline tracked closings inside city limits (window per city, updated October 4, 2026) and rental listings since October 3, 2025; confirmed lease closes extracted from property records.
• •More Virginia rankings: Cheapest cities to buy a house in Virginia ranks the same kind of list with each city's price per square foot for houses, realized appreciation and days to contract beside the median, and Cap Rate by City ranks the Virginia cities Resideline tracks by gross rental yield. The Virginia housing market hub carries the statewide figures and the largest Virginia markets by closings.
• •Asking rent vs observed rent compares live asking rents with final asking rents under that study's own definition; it says nothing about confirmed lease closes.

Prepared with Resideline's research pipeline and reviewed by Jeffrey Batista, Resideline's founder.