Picture two listings with the same three words after the street name: McLean, VA 22101 or 22102. The first is a detached house on a wooded lot in 22101, where most homes are single-family. The second is a unit in a high-rise in the part of 22102 that reaches into Tysons, with an elevator lobby and a condo fee. Both feed the same "McLean" market statistics. This fall, regional data shows those two kinds of homes facing very different conditions.
So a single McLean median price does not tell you much about either home. It mostly tells you how many of each happened to close that month.
The Mailing Address Covers Two Different Kinds of Housing
Fairfax County's own housing inventory shows how lopsided the two McLean ZIP codes are. The county's Demographic Reports 2025 counts housing units by type for each ZIP code as of January 2025.
| ZIP code | Total housing units | Single-family detached | Units in buildings of 9+ stories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22101 | 11,582 | 9,273 | 550 |
| 22102 | 16,486 | 3,392 | 5,999 |
About 80% of homes in 22101 are detached single-family houses. In 22102, about 21% are, and more than a third of all units sit in buildings nine stories or taller. 22102 also has more housing units than 22101. The ZIP code with the larger share of high-rise housing is the bigger of the two.
That high-rise stock is part of the county's urban core. Fairfax County's McLean Area Plan says the McLean Planning District includes part of the Tysons Urban Center, which the county plans for high-intensity office, retail, and residential uses. A buyer searching "McLean" is searching across a classic suburb and a planned downtown at the same time.
Why the Mix Moves the Median
The price gap between those housing types is wide. The same county report estimates median market values for owned homes in the McLean Planning District, as of January 2025:
- Single-family detached: $1,536,701
- Single-family attached, including townhouses: $937,587
- Multifamily, including condominiums: $435,918
- All owned units combined: $1,277,115
A typical detached home in the district was worth about three and a half times a typical multifamily unit. These are early-2025 values. They show how the housing stock is built, not today's prices, but the gap is large enough to matter.
A median is just the middle sale in the pile. When a month's closings lean toward high-rise condos, the middle sale shifts toward the $436,000 end. When they lean toward detached homes, it shifts toward the $1.5 million end. Neither move requires any single home to gain or lose a dollar of value. A reported drop in the McLean median can come from a busy month for condos, and a jump can come from a busy month for estate homes.
Even 22101 is not uniform. Bright MLS data reported by FFXnow found that 76 of 144 sales in 22101 during the second quarter of 2026 met Bright's luxury threshold of $1.9 million. That was the largest raw count of luxury sales of any ZIP code in the Mid-Atlantic. The other 68 sales that quarter came in below that line, so 22101 has its own internal mix too.
This Fall, the Two Halves Are Pulling Apart
Neither public source used here publishes August 2026 figures broken out by ZIP code for McLean. The county and regional data show a clear direction for each housing type, though, and that direction lines up with the split inside a McLean address.
In Fairfax County in August 2026, the average sale price for detached homes fell 1.9% to $1,174,860. The average for attached homes, meaning townhouses and condominiums together, rose 4.5% to $577,988, according to MarketStats by ShowingTime figures reported by FFXnow. The countywide median slipped 0.4% to $752,250, and active listings at the end of the month were up 20.3% from a year earlier to 1,985.
Price is only part of it. The bigger split is in supply. The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors' August 2026 report found that across its region, detached listings fell 8.5% from August 2025 to 998, while condo inventory rose 44.8% to 1,325 listings and townhome inventory rose 29.9%. In other words, there are fewer detached homes for sale than a year ago, and many more condos.
Bright MLS's August 2026 report for the Washington, D.C. metro shows what that looks like in the condo segment:
- Condo closed sales fell 22.7% from August 2025 to 890.
- The condo median sold price fell 5.7% to $386,500.
- Median days on market rose from 25 to 34.
- Active condo listings rose 28.2% to 4,337, or 4.30 months of supply.
For comparison, detached homes across the metro had a median of 14 days on market in August. Across NVAR's full region, months of supply for all home types was 2.08. These are metro and regional figures, not counts for McLean. Applied to a ZIP code where more than a third of homes are in high-rises, they suggest the Tysons side of a McLean address is selling into much softer condo conditions than the detached houses a few miles away.
Bright MLS chief economist Lisa Sturtevant expects the slowdown to continue into the season:
"Expect a relatively slow fall market, with fewer buyers and sellers, slower price growth, and homes taking longer to sell."
Where the Leverage Sits in Each Half
This split shows up in the negotiation itself. For a detached home in 22101, a buyer is competing for a type of home that is getting scarcer across the region. Listings that sit for two weeks are normal there, and the room to negotiate is narrower. For a high-rise unit in the Tysons part of 22102, the same buyer may be one of fewer shoppers looking at more choices, with listings staying on the market longer. That usually means more room to talk about price, repairs, and closing costs.
A seller faces the mirror image. A condo owner who prices off a McLean median shaped by estate sales is pricing against the wrong comparison. A detached-home owner who reads a weak monthly median as a falling market may be reacting to a month that was simply heavy on condos.
Before you rely on any McLean figure, a few questions sort out which market it describes:
- Is the figure for the McLean postal city, for one ZIP code, or for the county's McLean Planning District? Each covers a different area.
- Does it combine detached homes, townhouses, and condos, or report each type on its own?
- How many sales are behind it? A small monthly count can swing on just a few high-rise closings.
- Do the comparable sales match the home's type and building? A detached sale says little about a condo, and the reverse is true too.
Our McLean neighborhood guide covers the area itself. Our free home valuation starts from comparable sales of the same housing type rather than a blended figure.
Downtown McLean Is Adding More Apartments to the Mix
The blend inside a McLean address is set to widen as office buildings in downtown McLean are proposed for housing.
- McLean Office Center, 1368 Beverly Road. On March 17, 2026, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Cypress Real Estate Company's rezoning for a seven-story, 56-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail and a public plaza.
- 6816 and 6824 Elm Street. In July 2026, Highcrest proposed a seven-story mixed-use building with 115 residential units, 4,520 square feet of retail, 16,371 square feet of office space, and 223 underground parking spaces, as reported by FFXnow. The county's case record lists its status as "Waiting for Resubmission," with a Planning Commission hearing listed for March 3, 2027. The hearing history also shows March 10, 2027.
- Spring Hill Reserve, Spring Hill Road. The same March 17 meeting approved Wormwald Companies' plan for 14 single-family houses at 1336 through 1348 Spring Hill Road, with roughly two acres of open space.
Fourteen new houses and potentially more than 170 new apartments do not change McLean's character on their own. They do mean downtown McLean is adding more of the multifamily housing that pulls a blended median down, while the detached supply grows a few houses at a time.
Quick Answers
Does a McLean address mean the same tax bill everywhere? Not exactly. Fairfax County's adopted FY2027 real estate rate is $1.12 per $100 of assessed value. The county's tax rate table also lists a separate $0.023 per $100 levy for the McLean Community Center, and it notes that rates vary by parcel. The county can confirm which levies apply to a specific address. Our post on Falls Church addresses served by two different governments explains how the mailing name and the taxing authority can differ.
Is 22101 entirely a luxury market? No. In the second quarter of 2026, 68 of its 144 sales closed below Bright MLS's $1.9 million luxury threshold.
If you're comparing a house in 22101 with a high-rise condo in the Tysons part of 22102, David D Kyle can pull recent sales for each type separately and show you how much negotiating room each one has this fall. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
