Rock Hill region’s housing market sees more listings, but sales remain stagnant

The Rock Hill region had more homes for buyers to choose from this year compared to last, but it didn’t equate to more sales.

Canopy Realtor Association just released data on home sales throughout the Charlotte region, through June. Compared to the first half of last year, all three counties in the Rock Hill region saw noticeable gains in new listings. But none had as many closings.

The larger Charlotte region saw the same trends. That market is moving toward normalization, particularly if mortgage rates decrease in the coming six months, said Canopy president Charisma Southerland.

“Steady listing activity continues to impact inventory and will eventually help to ease price growth, leading to the possibility of more sales activity in the second half of the year,” Southerland said in a release with the new data.

Here are four takeaways at the halfway point of 2024 in the Rock Hill region:

Home sale hot spots and growth areas

Lake Wylie, Fort Mill and Tega Cay homes sold for the most money. Canopy lists Lake Wylie as the areas on both the South Carolina and North Carolina sides of the lake. The median sale so far this year was $530,000. In Fort Mill it was $485,000; Tega Cay $451,053; Clover $410,000 and Lancaster County it was $408,087, all of which exceed the $400,000. The Charlotte region was just below that figure, at $390,000.

The biggest increase, though, came in Chester County. The median sale there was up 17.4% compared to last year. Fort Mill was next best at 10.2%, with Clover increasing by 6.2%, and well above the Charlotte region growth of 4%.

Home listings up, but sales down in most areas

New listings were up this year, as high as 31.8% in York. Clover was at 27.4%; in Fort Mill with 22.9% and Lake Wylie 22.3%. Each each exceeded 20% for a one-year increase. Only Lancaster had fewer new listings the first half of this year compared to last, dropping 1.4%.

Closed sales didn’t keep the same pace. More than half of the counties or communities in the Rock Hill region saw fewer sales this year than last. Chester County dropped 19%, followed by Lancaster County, which was down 6.2% and York County down 2.5%. Even Fort Mill decreased 3.9%, and Rock Hill dropped 3.8%.

The biggest sales upticks came in York (9.5%), Tega Cay (8.2%) and Clover (4.7%).

Most homes are selling faster

Fort Mill homes aren’t just selling for higher amounts, but also twice as fast compared to other parts of the region. The cumulative days on market metric measures from the time a home is first listed to when it goes off market for the final sale. Fort Mill homes were listed for only 29 days, followed by Rock Hill listed for 34 days and Tega Cay at 36 days. Chester County took longest at 57 days. The cities of York and Lancaster were next slowest at 54 days.

Most communities had homes on the market for shorter periods, compared to the first half of last year. Tega Cay homes sold four days faster this year. Rock Hill homes spent three fewer days on the market, while Fort Mill and Lancaster County were two days faster.

Chester County homes spent 11 more days on the market, compared to last year. Lake Wylie spent six more days and Lancaster three more.

York and Clover check all the boxes

Community growth and home sales have been steady for years in hotbed areas nearest Charlotte.

Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie and Indian Land have been leading most metrics. As those areas fill up, growth has spread the past few years to western York County.

Among all the Rock Hill region communities and counties listed in the Canopy data, only one saw increases this year in listed homes, home sales and median price with fewest market listing days. York led the region in new listings and closed sales increase by percentage. The average list price in York increased 13.3% and sellers got 96.4% of their original asking price.

Clover also saw upticks in listings, sales and median price. Cumulative days on the market this year were the same in Clover, at 52 days, compared to last year. The average list price of $520,973 in Clover this year was up 6.2%, and buyers got 96.9% of their original asking prices.