June 27, 2024

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

Residential Sales Trends in York, Lancaster, Chester and  Chesterfield Counties

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Canopy MLS reports on residential sales trends in the contiguous counties to Mecklenburg County, which includes York, Lancaster, Chester, and Chesterfield, South Carolina. Data included in this report is for single-family, condo, and townhome property types only, for the geographies mentioned above.

Closed sales in May dropped slightly from the previous year by 5.1 percent, with 611 homes sold compared to 646 homes sold in May 2023. Despite this, sales increased by 20 percent compared to April 2024, partly due to new construction sales, which accounted for 16 percent of sales in May.

Contract activity or pending sales rose 7.2 percent year-over-year as buyers brought 623 properties under contract, 42 more properties than last May.  Compared to April 2024, contract activity is up 3 percent. May’s Showing reports indicated foot traffic was strongest in Fort Mill, where listings averaged 6.8 showings (or potential buyers) per listing, followed by Rock Hill, where listings there averaged 5.7 showings per listing. Overall buyer interest was strongest for properties in York County, where listings averaged 5.5 showings per listing, followed by Lancaster, where listings averaged 5.4 showings per listing this past May.

“Sales are slower than previous years, but the consistent seller activity in the form of new listings, particularly over the last couple of months has helped to boost supply and inventory levels, which in the long term will help buyers, said Colleen Coesens, a Canopy MLS Board of Director representing South Carolina and a Realtor®/broker with EXP Realty, Rock Hill. “The region’s limited supply is also getting a boost from single-family new construction activity. In Chester County, for example, nearly half of homes sold this month were new construction.”

New listings in May, pushed higher as sellers listed 820 homes for sale, an increase of 16.3 percent, and 115 more new listings than in May 2023. This was the second month new listings reached the 800s since July 2022. Month-over-month new listings rose one percent over April. At report time, inventory rose 38.1 percent year-over-year to 1,099 homes for sale and 2.2 months of supply. Supply is up 46.7 percent compared to May 2023, when there was only 1.5 months of supply.

A closer look at inventory by price range revealed increases in inventory across the board in all price ranges except in properties priced below $150,000. Homes priced from $250,000 to $350,000 showed a substantial rise in homes on market of 59.1 percent, followed by homes priced from $500,000 to $750,000, which showed a 57.4 percent rise in the number of homes on market. The largest increase, however, was in the $750,000 to $1,000,000 range with an increase of 69.9 percent.

Still, with both inventory and supply tight for the past two years amidst rising demand during the spring selling season, prices rose in May. Both the median sales price ($379,000) and the average sales price ($448,569) rose 1.9 percent and 9.3 percent year-over-year respectively. The percent of list price received measure dipped less than a percent (-0.4%) to 99.1 percent, as sellers still receive nearly all of asking prices for their homes, while days on market showed homes averaged 35 days on market until sale, compared to 33 days on market in May 2022.

Coesens continues, “If the Fed follows through on its promise to lower rates in September, we could see a significant increase in inventory levels, coupled with the rising number of new builds entering the market. This will be a welcome change for buyers from the tight supply the region has endured over the last few years.”

A closer look at the four South Carolina counties

York County closed sales dipped in May by 6.6 percent year-over-year as 411 homes sold compared to 440 that were sold during the same period last year. Around the county sales were down compared to last May in Lake Wylie (16.8%), Rock Hill (8.2%), Tega Cay (3.4%), Town of York (11.6%), and Town of Clover (17.4%). Sales in Fort Mill, however, were up 20.2 percent compared to last year.

Contract activity increased in York, rising 8 percent compared to last year as 418 homes went under contract during the month compared to 387 in May 2023.  Contract activity was up year-over-year across the county; Lake Wylie (48.5%) Fort Mill (9.5%), Rock Hill (24.8%), Tega Cay (42.1%), Town of Clover (25.8%), and Town of York (20%).

New listings increased substantially in York County, rising 17.7 percent, as sellers listed 553 homes for sale compared to 470 new listings the previous year, boosting inventory 46.6 percent to 695 homes for sale or 2.0 months of supply. Supply is up 53.8 percent compared to May 2023, when there was a little over one month of supply. New construction in the county was a large contributing factor to these increases as 176 or 25 percent of the total inventory are new builds.

Both the median sales price ($386,000) and the average sales price ($461,142) rose 2.9 percent and 9.7 percent year-over-year respectively, while the average list price increased 10.2 percent to $519,850. This brought the original list price to sales price measure to 97.4 percent, a strong incentive for sellers to continue listing, while days on market showed homes averaged 35 days on market until sale, compared to 31 days on market in May 2023.

Lancaster County homes sales increased in May, rising 9.2 percent year-over-year as 166 homes sold compared to 152 that sold in May 2023.  Pending contract activity jumped 14.2 percent as buyers drove 169 homes into under-contract status during the month, compared to 148 a year ago.  New listings also increased in May, rising 10.9 percent to 204 new listings offered by sellers, compared to 184 new listings in May 2023. The rise in new listings helped boost both inventory and supply which rose by 10 percent and 18.8 percent year-over-year respectively, bringing the total number of homes for sale at report time to 254 and 1.9 months of supply.  In May 2023 supply in Lancaster was only 1.3 months.  Prices were mixed, as the median sales price dipped 2.3 percent to $419,950 and the average sales price increased by 3.0 percent to $457,854. The average list price rose 11.7 percent to $483,428 bringing the original list price to sales price measure to 97.8 percent, while days on market showed homes averaged 33 days on market until sale compared to 34 days on market in May 2022.

Chester County sales declined 6.3 percent year-over-year as 29 homes sold compared to 37 that sold a year ago in May. However, Chester is aggressively expanding new construction homes along with commercial movement into the area, an indicator of growth to come. This month, 48 percent of the homes sold were new builds. Contract activity also dropped with 30 homes going under contract during the month; one-third of those are from new construction. New listings rose 17.5 percent as homeowners listed 28 properties and new construction brought 19 properties to the market for a total of 47 available properties. At report time there were 103 homes for sale and 3.7 months of supply, up from 69 homes in inventory a year ago and 2.5 months of supply. Price rose in all metrics. The median sales price increased 28.3 percent to $294,999 while the average sales price increased 12.6 percent to $264,296. The average list price increased 20.6 percent to $301,045, bringing the original list price to sales price measure up to 97.2 percent. Days on market showed time homes were on market increasing by 66.7 percent to 35 days on market compared to 21 days on market in May 2023.  
(Due to small sample sizes, percentage of change may seem extreme)

Chesterfield County had 5 closed sales in May compared to 17 sales a year ago, while contract activity fell slightly as 11 homes went under contract compared to 14 a year ago. New listing activity was up, with sellers listing 13 homes for sale compared to 11 new listings in May 2023. Inventory showed 38 homes for sale and 4.9 months of supply at the current sales pace. Both price indices fell in May.  The median sales price declined 17.5 percent to $202,000 while the average sales price dipped 10.7 percent to $206,680. The average list price rose 58.1 percent to $282,348, bringing the original list price to sales price measure to 91.9 percent. Days on market decreased as the pace of sales slowed, and showed homes averaging 38 days on market until sale compared to 22 days on market in May 2023.
(Due to small sample sizes, percentage of change may seem extreme)

Canopy Realtor^® Association provides monthly reports on residential real estate market activity for the Charlotte region based on data from Canopy MLS. This report is based on the four South Carolina counties that are also included in the Charlotte region (Chester, Chesterfield, Lancaster, and York Counties).  For more details, visit the monthly report this release is based on, and search for “Piedmont Regional Association of Realtors®". 

See also Charlotte region reports and individual county reports for York, Lancaster, Chester and Chesterfield.  For more residential-housing market statistics, visit www.CarolinaHome.com and click on “Market Data.” For an interview with Canopy MLS South Carolina representative, Colleen Coesens, Realtor®/Broker-in-charge with EXP Realty, Fort Mill, please contact Kim Walker.

Canopy MLS is a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of Canopy Realtor® Association and is the private broker cooperative used by Realtors® to bring buyers and sellers together with access to thousands of residential listings in a multicounty service area, including Charlotte, Asheville and Catawba Valley regions spanning across North Carolina, South Carolina and outside of the Carolinas. Canopy MLS, which has 21,000 subscribers, provides the most trustworthy, timely, accurate and complete property data along with proprietary tools for showings, market stats, predictive analytics, and more. Canopy MLS is used by its members to support consumers in their residential real estate transactions, whether selling, buying, investing or renting.