Buying in Northern Virginia and Washington DC: the full guide

Who buys, and how lenders see them

Many Europeans here work for an international organisation or an embassy, or have been sent by an employer for a fixed term. For a mortgage, what matters is the exact status you hold and how your income is paid and documented. Conventional loans are available to non-citizens who are lawfully resident, with the lender responsible for establishing that from your documents, and individual lenders apply their own rules to particular visa categories and to people with diplomatic status. Ask a lender about your specific visa before you start viewing. Our guide to visa status and US loans gives the background.

One advantage of this area: the conforming loan limit for 2026 is $1,249,125 in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and the District, the highest tier in the country. Loans up to that size can be standard loans. Elsewhere the same loan would be a jumbo.

Property tax, side by side

The right-hand column is our arithmetic on the published rates, before any relief. In the District, an owner whose home is their principal residence can claim a homestead deduction, worth $91,950 off the assessed value for tax year 2026, and benefits from a cap of 10% a year on increases in the taxable assessment. A home you do not live in gets neither. Loudoun's low rate has a specific cause: the county credits tax revenue from its data centres for cutting the rate from $1.145 in 2016.

Virginia adds something Europeans do not expect: a yearly personal property tax on vehicles kept in the locality, at $3.09 per $100 of the car's value in Loudoun, $4.57 in Fairfax and $5.33 in Alexandria. On a $40,000 car in Alexandria that is about $2,100 a year before any relief.

Taxes when you buy

District of Columbia. Recordation tax and transfer tax are each 1.1% of the price below $400,000 and 1.45% on the whole amount at $400,000 or more. The transfer tax falls on the seller. The recordation tax is customarily the buyer's, so on an $800,000 home expect $11,600. A reduced recordation rate exists for first-time DC buyers who will live in the home, subject to income and price ceilings.

Virginia. The state charges 25 cents per $100 on the deed and 25 cents per $100 on the deed of trust, which is the mortgage, and the locality can add up to a third. The grantor's tax and, in Northern Virginia, two regional transport fees of 10 cents per $100 each are the seller's by statute unless the contract says otherwise.

Letting when you are posted away

People on international careers often leave for a few years and want to keep the house. Long lets to a tenant are the normal answer. Short-term letting is tightly restricted across the area: the District, Arlington and Fairfax all tie it to the host's own primary residence, with annual caps when the host is absent. A property that is not your main home cannot be licensed for short stays under the current rules.

For rental income while you are a non-resident of the United States, federal tax is 30% of gross rent unless you elect to be taxed on net income and file a US return. That is worth arranging before your first tenant moves in.

Estate and income tax across the river

The District taxes the income of residents at rates from 4% to 10.75%, and has its own estate tax, with an exclusion of $4,988,400 for 2026 and rates from 11.2% to 16%, apportioned to property located in DC. Virginia's income tax tops out at 5.75%. For anyone who is not a US resident for estate tax purposes, the federal rules for non-residents apply on top, with a filing threshold of $60,000 of US assets. Check our country comparison to see whether your country has an estate tax treaty.

Getting home

Dulles lists nonstop service to London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Barcelona, Dublin, Madrid, Athens, Berlin, Vienna, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Munich, Zurich, Reykjavik and Frankfurt, some of it seasonal. Loudoun and western Fairfax are closest to the airport, which matters if you travel often.

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