SC housing market making much of the US look bad, latest data shows. Here’s how & why
South Carolina apparently didn’t get the memo that the U.S. housing market was supposed to be struggling.
The latest June data shows that U.S. home sales dropped month-over-month and year-over-year, all while inventory increased. Meanwhile, South Carolina has been an outlier, with an increase in home sales and a slowdown in rising prices over the same period and longer.
But why is the Palmetto State performing better than the U.S. as a whole? Here’s a breakdown of the latest housing market data.
U.S. housing market
According to a June South Carolina Realtors report that cites U.S. Census data, U.S. sales of new single-family homes dropped 13.7% month-over-month and 6.3% year-over-year. The median sales price of a new home increased 3.7% from the previous month to $426,600.
A June monthly report by realtor.com states that U.S. pending home sales — homes under contract — decreased 1.6% year-over-year. And the total number of unsold homes, including those under contract, was up 20% compared to last year.
SC housing market
The South Carolina Realtors June data shows that the state’s housing market had a 4.2% jump in sales month-over-month and a 1.2% jump year-to-date. The sales figures are a vast improvement over the same June report from 2024, which showed an 11.3% drop in month-over-month sales and a 1.2% fall in year-to-date sales.
Price increases have also eased in the state after years of significant spikes following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The South Carolina Realtors June data shows a relatively flat 0.9% increase in median sales prices month-over-month and a 1.2% jump in median sales price to $339,000 year-to-date. In contrast, prices were up 3.7% year-to-date by June 2024; 3.6% year-to-date by June 2023 and 17.5% year-to-date by June 2022, the data shows.
What’s happening with the SC market?
For years, South Carolina has faced high demand for housing but has been unable to keep up with inventory — which led to skyrocketing prices.
South Carolina has routinely ranked among the states where people have moved to the most. The state ranked as the fastest-growing in the nation in 2023, previous U.S. Census data shows. The state’s population grew by 1.7% to a total of 5,373,555. South Carolina was followed closely behind by Florida and Texas, both at 1.6% population growth. The state ranked third fastest-growing in 2022 with a 1.7% increase in population, a gain of 89,368 people.
Also, the annual U-Haul Growth Index report shows South Carolina was the fastest-growing state in 2024. Of all the U-Haul movers coming and going from the Palmetto State in 2024, more than 51.7% were arrivals, the report shows.
What’s started to change in the state has been the housing inventory.
According to South Carolina Realtors June data, inventory levels were up 26% market-wide. The property type with the largest gain was the single-family homes segment, where the number of properties for sale improved 26.8%. That amounts to 3.9 months of inventory for single-family homes and 5.5 months of inventory for condos, the data shows.
More inventory helps satisfy the high demand, which in turn can ease prices.
