Last Updated on January 29, 2025
Welcome to your first Market Update Report for 2025. Following these updates will give you a good indication of where the market is heading and what you can expect locally in each of our regions throughout the Carolinas.
Market update
All signs pointed to lower interest rates heading into 2024. However, things didn’t exactly play out as we expected, and interest rates remained fairly stubborn much of last year. Despite entering the year with higher mortgage interest rates, we expect them to back off in late January, and we predict home buyers will see rates between 6.25-6.50% this year. Mortgage rates are expected to keep mortgage payments essentially unchanged in 2025, despite continued home price growth.
Thanks to the highest amount of inventory seen since 2019 predicted for this year, you’ll have good news if you’re searching for a home this spring. Home buyers can expect to experience a slower-paced market that’s far less competitive than we’ve experienced in a while.
Regional real estate updates
Western Upstate/Mountain Lakes, SC
Inventory has grown by 13%, offering more options for buyers as the market continues to expand. The sales pace has increased by 4.5%, and the monthly supply of inventory has risen from 3.2 months to 3.5 months, signaling a gradual shift toward more balanced conditions. Homes are now spending an average of 73 days on the market, while the average price has surged by 7.7% to $403,000. These shifts indicate a steady upward trend in both availability and property values.
Upstate, South Carolina
Active inventory has increased by 30%, providing buyers with more options across all price points. The sales pace has risen by 6.5%, signaling continued demand in the market. Additionally, the monthly supply of inventory has grown from 2.9 months to 3.6 months, reflecting a more balanced market. Homes are spending an average of 50 days on the market, while the average price has climbed by 3.5% to $385,000. These trends point to a steady improvement in market conditions, offering opportunities for both buyers and sellers.
High Country
After seeing an increase in active listing count and sales pace earlier in the year, there was a decline in Q4 of 2024, mostly due to the impact of Hurricane Helene. Monthly supply of inventory has been averaging around 4 months, and it is trending up 5 months the past couple of months, which indicates a balanced market.
The average days on the market is right at three months, which is very normalized and is considered a healthy rate in the mountains.
In the 4th quarter of 2024, the average price was $450,000, and the price appreciation rate was between 10% and 12%. Price appreciation is mostly driven by limited inventory in the mountains.
Western North Carolina
Without the impact of Hurricane Helene, the year would have been a somewhat lackluster one for real estate—likely slightly better than 2023, as most predicted early in the year. In fact, closed sales units were up in the first and second quarters and only slightly off in the third. The continuing climb of the median sales price contributed to sales volume increasing in all three quarters.
As anyone would expect, real estate activity was dramatically impacted after the storm as many purchasers postponed their plans while everyone in the region focused upon recovery. Our interactions with purchasers indicated that while some plans may have been postponed, the desire to live in our mountain region has not been diminished. It is our belief that many of the postponed activities will take place this year, in addition to what we would experience otherwise. The modest improvement we have seen in housing inventory should continue in 2025 as demographics and lifestyle changes should begin to encourage many homeowners to make a housing transition, many of whom have been delaying doing so as they adjusted to what is a historically normal interest rate environment.
Greater Charlotte area
In our greater Charlotte area, our months supply of inventory has increased slightly and hovers around 2-2.5 months, on average, and those numbers indicate we are still in a sellers’ market.
Average days on market (DOM) has also increased, and the days of homes being on the market for minutes are somewhat behind us, and we are seeing DOM trending more towards 3-4 weeks now.
When looking at appreciated or average sales price, we have a deceleration of appreciation, meaning most areas aren’t seeing 12-15% appreciation year over year, but appreciation is still strong and normalizing.
Overall, we anticipate much of the same moving into the first quarter of 2025, with interest rates also staying about the same.
Triad
There is an increase in active inventory in all price points, which means more new listings and more active listings for buyers to see. Overall, the Triad region has a 30% increase in inventory and a healthy 15% increased sales pace. This is a great trend, as inventory has been so limited over the past few years. This pace is causing our monthly supply of inventory to slowly increase up from 2.5 months to 3 months, which means we are trending towards a balanced market.
The average days on the market is currently sitting right at one month and starting to trend towards 35 to 40 days, which is a very normalized rate. The average home price is $340,000, and the price appreciation rate is between 6% and 7%.
Showings in the Triad Region have decreased to 6 showings per listing, so first impressions matter more than they have in prior years. At the same time, we have seen our price reductions increase by 100% over the past year, as sellers are too aggressive with pricing when placing their homes on the market. The market shifted in the last half of 2024 with more listings hitting the market, which means more competition for sellers.
Triangle
From 2023 to 2024, the Triangle region saw improvements across the real estate market. New listings rose by 17.4% in 2024, after falling 14.6% the year before, showing increased activity from sellers. Sales under contract also went up by 5.0% following a decrease of 7.3% in 2023, indicating a rebound in buyer interest. The supply of homes slightly increased from 2.3 to 2.5 months, suggesting a more balanced market. Average sale prices continued to rise by 2.4% each year, reflecting a steady increase in home values. Finally, closed sales improved by 2.2% in 2024, recovering from a 14.1% drop in 2023, which points to a healthier transaction environment. Together, these figures indicate a more active and stable real estate market in the region.
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Allen Tate is the Carolinas’ largest real estate company with more than 70 offices and 1,800 Realtors in the Charlotte, Triad, Triangle, High Country, Upstate SC, Highlands/Cashiers and Asheville/Mountain regions. Allen Tate is a partner of Howard Hanna Real Estate, the largest privately held real estate broker in the U.S., with 500 real estate, mortgage, insurance, title, and escrow service offices and 15,000 sales associates and staff across 13 states. For more information, visit www.allentate.com and www.howardhanna.com.
