It got more expensive to buy a South Carolina home in general over the last three months.
The median price of homes in South Carolina was $338,000 in the third quarter of 2024 — a 2.4% jump compared to the same quarter last year, according to the latest data from South Carolina Realtors. And as of the end of September, the median home price had increased 3.5% year-to-date compared to the same period in 2023.
Of all the state housing markets listed by South Carolina Realtors, the Central Carolina region had the biggest median price increase at 19% for the third quarter. The Beaufort area was the second largest increase at 7.8%, with a median price of $435,000 for homes in the third quarter.
Below are the South Carolina housing markets listed from biggest to smallest median price jumps in the third quarter of 2024, year-over-year.
| Housing markets | Q3-2023 | Q4-2024 | % change |
| Central Carolina | $193,260 | $230,000 | 19% |
| Beaufort | $403,682 | $435,000 | 7.8% |
| Hilton Head area | $510,000 | $545,000 | 6.9% |
| Greenwood | $246,050 | $259,900 | 5.6% |
| Western Upstate | $299,900 | $314,950 | 5.0% |
| Aiken | $278,350 | $288,950 | 3.8% |
| Charleston Trident | $405,000 | $420,000 | 3.7% |
| Sumter/Clarendon County | $242,000 | $250,000 | 3.3% |
| Piedmont Regional | $389,490 | $400,000 | 2.7% |
| Greater Augusta | $278,119 | $284,250 | 2.2% |
| Greater Columbia | $271,095 | $276,555 | 2.0% |
| Spartanburg | $285,839 | $290,000 | 1.5% |
| Greater Greenville | $318,000 | $319,000 | 0.3% |
| Pee Dee | $220,000 | $220,000 | 0.0% |
| Coastal Carolinas | $329,100 | $325,000 | -1.2% |
| Cherokee County | $226,490 | $219,900 | -2.9% |
Home sales
While prices mostly rose across South Carolina, home sales were more of a mixed bag over the last three months. There were 22,987 homes sold in the third quarter, a 2.1% drop from the same period last year, South Carolina Realtors data shows. Still, several markets saw sales gains during the third quarter.
The Beaufort market had the biggest loss in sales at 16%, quarter-over-quarter. Meanwhile, the Aiken market had the largest sales gains at 8.8% with 898 homes sold. The greater Greenville area had the most sales for the quarter with 4,422 homes sold.
What’s happening with the housing market?
The Federal Reserve in September cut interest rates by half a point. While that should help lower mortgage rates, don’t expect big drops, some experts say.
“For those who are ready to buy now, waiting for larger declines in mortgage rates carries some risk,” Zillow Senior Economist Orphe Divounguy said in a September Zillow market report . “Absent an unexpected deterioration in the labor market, it’s unlikely mortgage rates would decline all that much more.”
Still, rates are lower than they have in 18 months, inventory is slowly reforming and there are more homes on the market now than since September 2020, the Zillow report states.
A separate recent Zillow home value and sales forecast report projects that home value in the U.S. will soften but sales will rise in the coming months. Lower mortgage rates and increased building inventory should drive the rise in sales and drop in value, the report states.
“Zillow anticipates home values to climb 2% in 2024 and grow 0.9% over the next 12 months,” the report states. “Zillow predicts a gradual increase in existing home sales, with an estimated 4.4 million transactions in 2025, showing improvement from the 4.1 million transactions recorded in 2023 and projected for 2024.”
For South Carolina, major markets should see a modest rise of 1.1% in home value by September 2025, according to Zillow.
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