Is America's love affair with the "exburbs" over?

GAINESVILLE, Virginia (Reuters) – Jean Bell didn’t plan to take care of her neighbor’s lawn when she moved to this cluster of brick townhouses hard by the freeway.

But the house next door has sat vacant for the past year and a half, and the bank that owned it wasn’t keeping it up. So the retiree and her family have mowed and watered the grass to deter the burglars who have hit nearby developments.

“We all have to watch each other’s homes because we don’t want the property values to go down any more,” Bell says. “It’s scary, and I really don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Thirty-five miles from downtown Washington, it’s easy to find signs that America’s relentless suburban expansion may have petered out.

Raw earth and blank concrete pads mark house lots that have sat unsold for three years.

Reuters