Why do two nearly identical listings in Haymarket, both priced around $750,000, carry monthly bills that differ by two or three hundred dollars before the mortgage payment even starts?
The answer has nothing to do with square footage or which street gets better afternoon light. It has to do with which HOA the listing sheet doesn't fully explain, and whether that HOA is funding a landscaping crew and a mail kiosk, or a golf course, two manned gates, and an athletic club.
The Median Price Is Three Different Markets Wearing One Zip Code
Pull up three sources for Haymarket home prices this week and you'll get three different answers, and none of them are wrong.
Bright MLS's regional data for the twelve months ending July 19, 2026 put Haymarket's median sold price at $775,000 across 541 closings, up 0.8 percent from $768,500 the year before, with homes spending a median of just six days on market. A trailing three-month view through May 2026 told a different story: a $632,000 median sale price, up 4.8 percent year over year, with homes averaging 29 days on market. A separate May 2026 snapshot put the figure at $689,990, with a 30-day average time on market.
None of these numbers contradict each other so much as measure different slices of the same zip code. Haymarket, VA is a postal-city designation that spans the incorporated town, the golf-gated country club communities, and rural-edge acreage properties buyers often cross-shop with Gainesville. A three-month sample skews toward whatever happened to close in that window, which in a market this size can mean a run of golf-gated townhomes one month and a stretch of half-acre resale colonials the next. Widen the window and the geography, and the gated inventory pulls the median toward $775,000. Narrow it, and ordinary resale streets pull it back down.
That spread isn't noise a buyer can average away. It's the first sign that Haymarket doesn't have one housing product. It has at least four, and each one carries a different bill after closing.
Piedmont: $175 a Month Buys the Gate, the Golf, and the Trash Pickup
Behind two manned gates in northwest Prince William County sits Piedmont, a community of 1,619 homes organized into three sections: Main or Gated Piedmont, Old Carolina Estates, and the Piedmont Riding Club. The centerpiece is an 18-hole Tom Fazio golf course, backed by a year-round indoor pool, two Olympic-size outdoor pools, and a full-service athletic club.
The dues split by whether a home sits behind the gate. Single-family homes inside the gate run about $175 a month. Homes outside the gate but still inside Piedmont's broader footprint run closer to $122 a month. Homes on a pipestem lot add another $20 a month on top of whichever base rate applies, a detail that rarely shows up on the listing sheet and only surfaces once a buyer requests the resale packet.
Those dues fund the guard gates, on-site HOA staff, and the shared upkeep of the golf course and pools. They don't touch a homeowner's own lawn. Every single-family owner in Piedmont still handles their own mowing, watering, and shrub care regardless of what the monthly check covers.
Dominion Valley: The Membership Layer Sits on Top of the HOA, Not Inside It
A few minutes away, Dominion Valley Country Club is the larger of Haymarket's two golf-gated communities, with 2,467 homes spread across eight gates. The mandatory HOA dues work differently depending on whether a home is attached or detached. Single-family owners handle their own lawn care. Owners of the attached Tournament and Carriage Homes get lawn mowing and trim maintenance folded into their monthly fee, along with weed control and fertilization every home type receives.
The part that catches buyers off guard sits entirely outside that mandatory structure. A social membership to the country club starts around $67 a month, and joining triggers a one-time capital contribution of roughly $3,500 due at closing. That fee never shows up on the HOA resale packet, because it isn't an HOA fee. It's a separate decision a buyer makes about whether they want clubhouse and social access along with the gate, or whether they'd rather skip it and pay only the base dues.
New construction here has already priced in that premium. Toll Brothers built its final Towns Collection townhomes inside Dominion Valley, and by March 2024 the last four remaining homes were priced from the low $800,000s, a floor that reflects the golf-gated address as much as it reflects square footage.
Villages of Piedmont: The Middle Tier With No Golf to Fund
Not every planned community in Haymarket carries a golf course. Villages of Piedmont is a separate community of 155 single-family homes and 256 townhomes that backs directly to Leopold's Preserve, a 380-acre permanent conservation easement. Residents get a clubhouse, two community pools, two tennis courts, a basketball court, and volleyball facilities, but there's no golf course line item in the budget and no manned gate to staff.
That absence changes the math more than any single amenity would. A community without a golf course and without round-the-clock gate staff has a fundamentally smaller operating budget to assess against homeowners, which is one reason buyers who want amenities without the country club premium often land here first.
Four Communities, Four Different Bills
| Community | Homes | Gate | Golf | Monthly HOA (approx.) | Extra to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Established resale streets | Varies | No | No | Often none or minimal | Confirm directly with the title company; no resale packet to request |
| Villages of Piedmont | 155 SF + 256 TH | No | No | Set by community budget, no golf overhead | Backs to Leopold's Preserve, a 380-acre conservation easement |
| Piedmont Country Club | 1,619 total | Yes, 2 manned gates | Yes, Tom Fazio design | ~$175/mo gated single-family, ~$122/mo non-gated | +$20/mo surcharge on pipestem lots |
| Dominion Valley Country Club | 2,467 | Yes, 8 gates | Yes | Varies by home type; attached homes include lawn care | Optional club membership from $67/mo plus ~$3,500 capital contribution at closing |
What This Means Before You Write an Offer
A buyer comparing three Haymarket listings at the same price is really comparing three different long-term cost structures, and the difference doesn't surface until the resale packet arrives, usually after an offer is already in.
- Ask for the HOA resale packet the day a home goes under contract, not the day before closing. It's the document that spells out the actual monthly due, the reserve study, and any pending special assessments.
- Confirm whether a Dominion Valley home is attached or detached. The lawn care line item, and therefore the real value of the monthly due, depends entirely on that answer.
- Ask whether a country club social membership already exists on the property or whether you'd be starting fresh with a new capital contribution at closing.
- Check whether the lot is a pipestem in Piedmont. The extra $20 a month is easy to miss and easy to raise before contingencies are removed.
- Compare the reserve study, not just the current due. A thin reserve fund can turn into a special assessment the year after you close.
The monthly due is not the golf membership. It's the security gate, the landscaping crew, the snow removal contract, and the shared roof over the pool house. The golf, where it exists, is usually a separate line you can decline.
A Note for Haymarket-Curious Buyers
None of this means one community is a better buy than another. It means the $775,000 median and the $632,000 median are both true, and both incomplete, until you know which gate, if any, sits between the listing price and the total monthly cost. A buyer coming from a no-HOA neighborhood elsewhere in Northern Virginia should budget for that gap before falling for a floor plan. A buyer already used to HOA living somewhere like McLean or Ashburn will find Haymarket's fee structures familiar, just organized around a golf course instead of a swim club.
If you're weighing a golf-gated address against a quieter, fee-lighter street in the same Haymarket zip code, The Pearl Team can walk through the actual resale packet, the reserve study, and the membership fine print before you write an offer, not after. Schedule your free home strategy and we'll help you find the community that matches both your budget and your taste for a gate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to join the country club if I buy in Dominion Valley or Piedmont? No. Social and golf memberships sit outside the mandatory HOA dues in both communities. In Dominion Valley, the social tier starts around $67 a month plus a one-time capital contribution of roughly $3,500 at closing, and it's a choice, not a requirement of ownership.
Why do different sources show different median prices for the same town? They measure different slices of it. The Bright MLS Haymarket, VA designation spans the incorporated town, the golf-gated communities, and rural-edge acreage, while a shorter sampling window can skew toward whatever type of home happened to close during it.
Is a home with no HOA automatically the cheaper long-term option? Not necessarily. A due-free home still needs its own reserve for a new roof or a repaved driveway. The buyer just builds that reserve individually instead of through a shared association, so the real comparison depends on the specific property's age and condition.
