Upstate Brief: Greenville Inventory Up 12% as the Median Price Holds Flat (July 27, 2026)

Greenville homebuyers have more leverage than a year ago: inventory is up 12% to 6,269 homes, homes take 52 days to sell (vs. 43), and the median sale price is still $330K, per the Greenville MLS. Those are June figures from the Greater Greenville Association of REALTORS, the same numbers local agents and loan officers see in their own systems.

The Upstate vs the country

Greenville home values are up 1.9% over the year against 0.8% nationally, while Greenville rents are up 1.7% against 2.2%, per Zillow. The typical home value was $317,097 in June against $372,995 nationally, and the typical asking rent was $1,570 against $1,965. So home values here are outrunning the country while rents lag it. These are Zillow's modeled figures for the metro area, which covers more ground than the Greenville MLS and is a different instrument from the MLS median sale price above.

Buyer or seller's market

Greenville's for-sale inventory is up 24.2% over the year to 4,502 active listings, while the national count rose 1.9%, per Zillow's metro series. Homes are also taking longer to go under contract, with a median days to pending, the span from listing to going under contract, of 22 days against 17 a year ago and a national median of 18. The share of listings carrying a price cut was 30.4%, roughly six points above the national 24.4% in that same series, though it sits flat against the 30.2% of a year ago. The sale-to-list ratio, how close to asking homes actually sell, was 98.0% as of May and unchanged from a year earlier, just under the national 98.6%. These are Zillow's modeled figures for the metro area, which covers more ground than the GGAR MLS territory behind the figures in the opening, so the two agree on direction and not on magnitude.

A buyer reads more inventory and a longer time to contract as more room to negotiate than a year ago. A seller reads homes still selling near asking, at a median price that has not moved, as a sign that sharp pricing still works.

Where the leverage is

Greenville County's supply is not evenly spread: Simpsonville's 29681 has 339 active listings against 25 in Marietta's 29661, with a county middle of 135, per Zillow's ZIP-level series. These are Zillow's modeled ZIP-level figures for June, a different instrument from the GGAR MLS counts above and not comparable to them. A ZIP is also not a neighborhood, since its boundaries cross school and municipal lines.

The other two leverage measures spread the same way. Homes went under contract fastest in Greer's 29650, at a median of 14 days, and slowest in Simpsonville's 29680, at 25 days, against a county middle of 21. The share of listings carrying a price cut ran from 19.8% in Landrum's 29356 to 36.9% in that same Simpsonville 29680, with the county middle at 32.6%.

Supply grew almost everywhere over the year, and it grew most in these five ZIPs.

• Greenville's 29609 went from 127 active listings to 181, up 42.5%.
• Mauldin's 29662 went from 43 to 61, up 41.9%.
• Greenville's 29617 went from 94 to 133, up 41.5%.
• Travelers Rest's 29690 went from 94 to 131, up 39.4%.
• Greenville's 29615 went from 129 to 177, up 37.2%.

Taylors' 29687 moved least, from 166 listings to 176, a gain of 6.0%.

Price cuts moved less than supply did. Measured in points against a year earlier, Greenville's 29617 rose most, from 21.0% of listings to 33.7%, a gain of 12.7 points. Pelzer's 29669 rose 7.3 points to 33.9% and Simpsonville's 29680 rose 7.2 points to 36.9%. Mauldin's 29662 was the only ZIP where the share fell, down 3.4 points to 33.0%.

Sorting the 18 reporting ZIPs by typical home value shows which price band absorbed the year's new supply. The five ZIPs under $300,000 hold 387 listings between them and averaged a 32.3% gain over the year, with 33.6% of listings cutting price. The ten between $300,000 and $400,000 hold 1,603 listings and averaged a 23.9% gain, with 31.1% cutting. The three above $400,000 hold 597 listings and averaged 26.2%, with 30.7% cutting. So the county's least expensive ZIPs added the most supply proportionally and are also the ones discounting most often.

One ZIP, Cleveland's 29635, has too few listings for its monthly move to carry meaning, so it sits out of every figure above. Days to pending reports for 13 of the county's 19 ZIPs and the price-cut share for 18, so the count behind each measure differs.

Around town

Greenville County Council voted 8-3 to put a 1% transportation sales tax on the November ballot: eight years, about $1.1 billion, with 90% going to roads. The July 21 vote splits the rest 7% to greenbelts and 3% to public transportation, and the tax would take effect May 1, 2027 if voters approve it, as reported by the Greenville Journal, South Carolina Public Radio, and the Post and Courier. It is the county's third attempt at a local-option road tax after a 2024 defeat, against a road-and-bridge maintenance backlog some estimates put near $3 billion, a figure reported but not established. The roads share alone would come to roughly $990 million over the eight years.

Rates and money

The 30-year fixed averaged 6.58% for the week ending July 23, up from 6.55% and down from 6.74% a year ago, per Freddie Mac. The 15-year fixed sat at 5.96%. The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.71% on July 23, up from 4.55% on July 17.

What I'd watch

The July FOMC decision lands Wednesday, July 29 at 2:00 p.m. ET, with the Fed's target range holding at 3.50% to 3.75% since December 2025. A hold would leave the near-term mortgage-rate backdrop unchanged into the August rate prints, and any shift in the statement language would matter more than the decision itself. I could not confirm a market-implied probability from a source that actually publishes one, so I am not quoting odds here. On the longer clock, whether the county penny sales tax passes in November is the local item to track. No watch item from last week was carried forward.

If this week has you thinking about buying, or about listing, tell me what you are working on and I will help.

Information only, not financial, legal, or investment advice. Figures are current as of July 27, 2026 and change over time.