February 2025 Greenville Real Estate Market Update

Housing affordability has been steadily improving across the country since June of last year. Affordability is mainly driven by three factors—wages, interest rates, and home prices. While home values have continued to rise, they’ve been increasing at a slower pace than wages, and mortgage rates have come down from their recent highs. As a result, the monthly payment on a $500,000 home is about $352 lower today than it was in early January of 2025, making homeownership roughly 8.4% more affordable than it was at the start of last year.

This shift is beginning to show up in buyer activity. The Home Purchase Index, which tracks mortgage applications, has been steadily climbing and is now at its highest level since January 2023. That’s often an early signal that more buyers are preparing to enter the market. As demand builds, it typically leads to more competition and upward pressure on prices. In other words, we’re entering a window where buyers are starting to regain some affordability, but that advantage may narrow as we head into the late spring and summer market, as more people jump back into the market.