The Washington Post reports today on the near-halting of migration to D.C.’s outer ring suburbs. Exurban Loudon County in Virginia, for example, has dropped from the second fastest growing county in the nation to the 20th. Due to the collapse in the housing market, consumers are shying away from the risky mortgages that once fueled Loudon’s growth. Brentin has more on how this affects new housing construction, particularly in the “urban fringe.”

But are center cities the beneficiaries of buyers’ decreasing interest in the exurbs? Not necessarily. The District itself continued to lose more native-born American residents than it gained between July 2007 and July 2008. It seems that those who can choose where to live continue to be moving outward from central cities, albeit at a slower pace. What would it take to reverse that preference? Higher gas prices? Better transit and schools? All of the above?

Hat tip: DCist.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.