Real Estate Prices Continue to Soar!!

Greenville’s monthly housing snapshot arrived with more fireworks than a summer Saturday. The latest Greater Greenville Association of Realtors® stats for May show a market that’s shifting in some places—but still sprinting in others. New listings are up, bidding wars remain fierce in the most sought-after price ranges, and homes are selling faster than ever recorded in the area. If that sounds contradictory, welcome to the Upstate housing market in real time.

Below is a clear, story-driven breakdown of the numbers, what they mean, and why Greenville’s “rebalancing” is very different from a cool-down.

Greenville Real Estate Prices Continue to Soar

The headline is still the headline: Greenville real estate prices continue to soar, with the May median sales price up 19.9% year over year to $315,000. For context, the median sat around the low $200s just a couple of years ago. In May 2021, it was $263,000, and in June 2021, $235,000. Today, the typical buyer faces a market where the “middle” home is in the low-to-mid $300s—and climbing.

That appreciation rides alongside another reality: the market is rebalancing. Pending sales (new contracts) have been declining year over year since December 2021, culminating in a 16.3% drop in April—the sharpest decrease in at least a year. Yet prices remain elevated because the most in-demand segments (particularly sub-$400K and sub-$300K) are still painfully undersupplied—and those homes are flying.

New listings: a late-spring rush onto the field

After months of scarcity, sellers moved. New listings rose 11.5% year over year in May to 1,958 (vs. 1,756 in May 2021). That jump follows March (+1.7%) and April (+2.4%) increases. Why the surge?

• Timing jitters. Many owners likely pulled forward June/July listings into May after hearing “slowdown” chatter and watching mortgage rates pop.

• Seasonality—with a twist. Typically, spring brings inventory. This year’s spring bounce looks more like a hurry-up offense from would-be sellers trying not to miss the window.

Whether that pace continues into summer is a question mark. If May pulled forward what would normally be listed in June and July, the next two months could look flatter than expected.

Pending and closed sales: the contradiction explained

Two things can be true at once:

• Pending sales are falling. April saw a 16.3% year-over-year decline in accepted offers (the fifth straight monthly drop, accelerating from December’s -3.8%, January’s -4.1%, February’s -5.5%, and March’s -7.6%).

• Closings rose in May. Completed sales were up 3.6% year over year, even after being down 4.7% in April.

How can fewer contracts and more closings coexist? The working theory: fewer deals are falling apart. In a high-stakes, rate-sensitive market, buyers who go under contract are highly motivated to finish. The “fall-through” pipeline shrinks, producing higher closed-sale counts—even as new contract volume dips.

Days on market: the fastest ever recorded

If you want a single metric that captures the market’s heat, this is it. Days on Market Until Sale—the average time from listing to accepted offer—hit an all-time Greenville low of 20 days in May. One year prior, it was 30 days. That’s a 33.3% drop year over year, and it follows a four-month stretch of steep declines (January down 22.5%, February 34.8%, March 31.7%, April 38.5%).

Important nuance: DOM is a meta-average. “Hot” homes may go pending in two or three days, but longer-tail listings (quirky layouts, premium prices, unusual locations) stretch the average. The fact that the average is 20 days means even the slowest slices are moving much faster than normal. Pre-pandemic, Greenville’s seasonal average typically floated between 40–60 days.

Bidding behavior: fewer offers, still aggressive outcomes

Agents in the trenches are seeing a subtle shift: many multiple-offer situations now draw five to six offers, not 15–20 like earlier this year. But those five or six bidders? They’re battle-tested—buyers who’ve lost repeatedly and are now hyper-aggressive. Result: prices still leap.

That’s echoed in the Percent of List Price Received trend. Greenville typically clocked around 98% before the pandemic (often with sellers covering some buyer closing costs). Over the past year, the market flipped. The average has held over 100%, with March reaching 101.2%, April climbing again, and May notching a new record—reported as 10.7% above the list in the dataset. However you slice it, the takeaway is simple: on average, homes are still selling for more than asking price.

Where the action is (and isn’t)

Price bands, May 2022 closed sales vs. May 2021:

• $350K–$500K: +48% (biggest year-over-year jump in closings)

• $250K–$350K: +33%

• Higher-end properties can still sit; the fiercest competition remains under $400K, especially under $300K.

By bedroom count (year-over-year closed sales):

• Two bedrooms or fewer: +13.4%

• Three bedrooms: +6.2%

• Four bedrooms: -0.5%

Translation: as affordability tightens, buyers trade down in size to stay in the game, and more closings occur where the monthly payment can still pencil.

Affordability and inventory: the two numbers to watch

• Housing Affordability Index: down 16.7% year over year, from 90 to 75. That’s the stat to keep an eye on; as it declines, entry-level buying becomes less attainable, and the ripple effects (rent pressure, delayed household formation) spread.

• Months’ Supply of Inventory: 1.2 months in April (up from 1.0 in March), flat year over year. In plain English: still starved. A balanced market sits closer to 5–6 months. Until supply grows meaningfully, price relief will be limited.

Builders, price drops, and the psychology of “over-listing”

Two visible signals are appearing more often:

1. Builder incentives and agent bonuses—not signs of collapse, but of overreach. Some builders stretched pricing beyond what the market would bear and are now sweetening the pot.

2. Price reductions on resale homes—again, more about seller miscalibration than macro weakness. A homeowner hears the market is blazing, lists far above any neighborhood precedent, gets crickets, and then cuts back toward reality.

Even with those visible adjustments, highly desirable listings in the sweet-spot price ranges still draw multiple offers and strong terms.

Why the market feels like a paradox

Because it is one. Mortgage rates rose, inflation bit into budgets, and pending sales fell—all classic cool-down markers. At the very same time, supply remains historically low, and median prices surged nearly 20%. The paradox resolves when you zoom into the most active brackets: there’s a feeding frenzy under $300K–$400K, and that segment is doing most of the heavy lifting on speed and price growth.

Add another layer: investors with cash are still searching for places to park money. With equities and crypto volatile, many continue to gravitate to housing, further crowding entry-level segments.

Contract changes add a new wrinkle

Greenville’s shift to a due diligence–style contract has already injected fresh complexity into negotiations. Market-wide, there’s “chaos” in adapting to the new rules. While not every agent has run into it yet, it’s another factor shaping timelines, risk tolerance, and how tightly buyers and sellers write their terms.

What to do with all this if you’re…

A buyer:

• Target listings the day they hit, especially under $400K.

• Expect five or six strong competitors instead of twenty—but bid as if they mean business (they do).

• Consider two-bedroom options or “step-down” strategies to secure a home now.

A seller:

• Price to the market—not above it. Over-listing gets punished faster now than six months ago.

• Expect strong results if you’re properly priced in the hot brackets.

• Prepare for an average of ~20 days to reach “under contract,” recognizing some homes move even quicker.

An investor:

• Underwrite conservatively; the new normal includes higher rates, tight supply, and durable demand in workforce price points.

• Watch the $250K–$500K corridor; it’s where velocity and exit options remain robust.

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Bottom Line

Greenville’s market is rebalancing—but not retreating. New listings are up, and pending sales have sagged, yet homes are selling faster than ever; the median price jumped 19.9%, and the average sale still exceeds the list. Inventory remains threadbare at 1.2 months, affordability is slipping, and the fiercest competition continues in the sub-$400K bands. Until supply meaningfully expands, expect the paradox to persist: fewer contracts overall, but intense battles for the right homes—and a median that keeps reminding everyone why Greenville real estate prices continue to soar.

Ien Araneta

Journal & Podcast Editor | Selling Greenville