Across Keagy Road from LewisGale Medical Center, a 3.5-acre parcel spent most of two years waiting on a courtroom. In July 2024, Roanoke City Council unanimously rezoned it to allow 24 townhomes. In May 2026, Ryan Homes started building them. The project is called Keagy Towns, and WFIR reported this month that its 3 to 5 bedroom homes are priced "from 350,000 to the low 400,000's."
In September 2026, the median home sold in the City of Roanoke went for $257,000. Keagy Towns starts about $93,000 above that. Roanoke's newest housing, including the projects pitched as the affordable middle, is being built at prices the city's typical sale doesn't reach. If you're comparing Roanoke with the rest of the valley, this gap matters more than any single month's median.
Two years between the vote and the framing
Keagy Towns is a useful case because its whole path is on the public record. Each step added time before a buyer could tour a model.
- July 2024. City Council unanimously approves rezoning 3.5 acres from residential to a mixed-use planned unit development, allowing 24 townhomes.
- August 2024. A lawsuit challenges the rezoning, arguing the planning commission's public notice was inadequate.
- May 2025. Circuit Judge Leisa Ciaffone dismisses the suit and later denies a request for reconsideration.
- By June 2026. The Court of Appeals of Virginia affirms the dismissal.
- Late May 2026. Ryan Homes begins construction. Alexander Boone tells Cardinal News a sales model is planned for August.
Cardinal News covered the appeals ruling in June. During the gap between the first planning commission hearing and the continued one, the application was revised to add tree canopy and include exterior renderings. Every month of that process was a month of land carrying costs, rising materials and labor before any home could be sold. The sticker price at Keagy Road carries that whole history.
The city's first cottage court, priced with a caveat
The second project is smaller and has further to go. In October, the Roanoke Times reported that City Council approved rezoning for two Old Southwest developments that their builders call "missing middle" housing. The paper described that as a middle ground, more affordable than a typical single-family home but smaller than a large apartment building.
The ownership half is on Janette Avenue SW. The site is a triangle left over from a diamond-shaped traffic circle that lost half its footprint when Interstate 581 went through. Developer Julie Phillips plans seven two-story, two-bedroom cottages around a central courtyard, which the paper said would be the first cottage court in the city. Roanoke's zoning code keeps cottages under 1,000 square feet. The Roanoke Times reported that Phillips hopes to sell them for $300,000 to $350,000 and noted that the price could change with the market and with costs.
Do the math. A cottage under 1,000 square feet at $300,000 costs more than $300 per square foot at the low end of the range. The cottage court will add smaller homes in a walkable historic neighborhood, but not low-cost square footage. Lucas Thornton of Hist:Re Partners, whose Franklin Road project got its rezoning the same night, explained the cost side to the Roanoke Times:
"Construction costs have been beastly over the last few years and affordability is a real challenge."
Thornton's project has 23 apartments in three buildings, a rental product with the cheapest units targeted at about $1,050 a month. The rezoning let the site go from 12 permitted units to 23. Both sites were rezoned to RM-2, and both site plans still have to pass the Architectural Review Board. The city's October 13 Planning Commission agenda lists both requests. That means another review stage, and more time, before a cottage price becomes a contract price.
Where the new prices sit against the city's own sales
Put the quoted prices next to September 2026's citywide median of $257,000, and the pattern holds across both for-sale projects.
| Project | Type | Quoted price | Compared with the $257,000 Sept. 2026 median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keagy Towns, Medmont Circle at Keagy Road | 24 townhomes, 3 to 5 bedrooms | $350,000 to the low $400,000s | About 36% higher at entry |
| Janette Avenue cottage court, Old Southwest | 7 two-bedroom cottages under 1,000 sq ft | $300,000 to $350,000 target | About 17% to 36% higher |
These are the city's newest ownership homes, and neither starts at the median. Rezoning doesn't change what lumber, labor, land and time cost. When a builder has to cover all four, the new homes land above the middle of the market even when the middle is the goal.
For a buyer, the homes near $257,000 in Roanoke City are mostly older houses already on the ground. New construction gives you a different set of tradeoffs, including newer systems, a builder timeline and a price that can still move.
September's 12 percent jump comes from a soft 2025 comparison
The headline number this fall makes the city look hotter than it has been. Virginia REALTORS' county and city tables, updated October 20, 2026, put Roanoke City's September median at $257,000, up from $229,000 a year earlier. That's a 12% jump on the same 99 sales in each month. The rest of 2026 looks different.
| Month | 2025 median | 2026 median |
|---|---|---|
| January | $240,000 | $199,900 |
| February | $225,000 | $233,850 |
| March | $231,725 | $220,000 |
| April | $245,000 | $232,000 |
| May | $250,000 | $255,000 |
| June | $269,975 | $250,000 |
| July | $263,500 | $244,919 |
| August | $248,524 | $261,000 |
| September | $229,000 | $257,000 |
In five of the first nine months of 2026, the median came in below the same month of 2025. June 2025's $269,975 is still higher than any month this year. September 2025 was simply a low month, and anything compared against it looks strong. City sales from January through September totaled 927 in 2026, compared with 884 over the same months of 2025. So more homes are changing hands, and prices are moving sideways with monthly swings. The Virginia REALTORS data itself cautions that its figures may differ slightly from those of local associations and MLSs.
A flat median and new construction priced 17% to 36% or more above it point the same way. Prices across the city aren't rising fast enough to close the gap.
More homes on the market across the valley, fewer going under contract
The Roanoke Valley Association of REALTORS reports a different set of numbers. It covers seven localities together: Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke counties, plus Roanoke City and Salem. In September 2026, that region had 1,642 homes in inventory, up 33% from 1,231 a year earlier. Listings added rose 11% to 698, homes under contract fell 8% to 416, and sales slipped 1% to 430. The regional median sold price rose 3% to $315,000.
That's regional data, and it includes lake counties with very different housing stock, so it can't stand in for the city alone. It still shows the setting a Roanoke buyer is shopping in this fall. More sellers are listing, fewer buyers are signing contracts, and inventory is piling up. In that market, a new townhome at $350,000 is competing with a valley full of resale homes.
The rules still under review
Part of the cottage court's appeal at City Hall is its zoning history. At the meeting, council member Peter Volosin called it "exactly the type of design and building type that I had hoped we would see with the new zoning changes," the changes council approved in 2024, according to the Roanoke Times.
Those rules are still being reworked. In July, Cardinal News reported that council voted 4 to 3 to send a package of residential density amendments back for a fourth planning review. The package included possible lower unit counts in some districts and a one-space-per-unit parking rule for apartment properties with three or more units. The article said it was unclear when the package would return to council. Whatever comes out of that review will shape how many units future infill sites can hold. Unit count is one of the few levers that can bring the price per home down, since the cost of the land is spread across them.
Quick answers
Is Roanoke City's median price rising fast? Not in 2026 so far. September's 12% gain over September 2025 comes after a weak 2025 month. Five of the first nine months of 2026 came in below 2025.
When will the Janette Avenue cottages be available? No date has been reported. The rezoning is approved, but the site plan still has to pass Architectural Review Board review, and the developer has said pricing could change.
Is Keagy Towns in the City of Roanoke? Yes. Roanoke City Council approved the rezoning for the site across from LewisGale Medical Center.
Choosing between a new townhome with a builder's timeline and an older home priced near the city median is a decision Kendra Porter helps buyers work through every week, with the tradeoffs laid out property by property. If you're weighing Keagy Road, Old Southwest or a resale home closer to $257,000, Virginia Realty Group can walk you through them. Contact Kendra.
