Greenville County New-Home Permits Climb Past 2024 and 2025 Levels Through Midyear

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Greenville County issued 1,368 permits for new homes in the first six months of 2026, outpacing the same stretch in both 2024 and 2025 and signaling that Upstate homebuilders are ramping up production even as the region’s rental and ownership markets pull in different directions.

County code compliance records show new-home permits climbing 18.9% above the January-through-June total of 1,151 recorded in 2025 and edging past the 1,342 issued over the same period in 2024, according to data published by Greenville County’s Code Compliance Division. June alone brought 211 new-home permits, capping a first half in which monthly totals topped 200 in five of six months.

The rebound comes as the broader housing market shifts toward buyers. Active listings in the Greenville market have risen roughly 28% over the past year, giving house hunters more selection and negotiating leverage after several years of tight supply, according to multiple listing service data cited by area brokerages. Median sale prices have leveled off in the $370,000-to-$480,000 range depending on how the market is measured, with homes now sitting on the market for a median of about 52 days.

Mortgage rates remain a headwind. Thirty-year fixed rates have hovered in the low-to-mid 6% range through the summer, and while economists expect gradual easing later in 2026, few anticipate rates falling below 5%. That leaves builders betting that steady in-migration to the Upstate, driven by continued industrial and corporate investment across Greenville and Spartanburg counties, will keep absorbing new inventory even as monthly payments stay elevated.

Supply isn’t coming only from market-rate builders. Greenville Housing Fund broke ground this spring on Southernside West, a $21.1 million, 54-unit affordable community for seniors earning between 30% and 80% of the area median income, located at 846 W. Washington St. The project follows Southernside East, a 93-unit affordable complex for renters 55 and older nearby, and adds to a pipeline the nonprofit says has produced more than 2,700 affordable units over the past five years as part of a county-backed push to close Greenville’s affordable housing gap.

For buyers, the permit rebound and inventory gains suggest more choices are on the way, particularly in suburban and outlying submarkets where land remains cheaper to develop. For sellers, the shift means the pricing power of recent years is easing. Developers and investors, meanwhile, are watching whether rising permit activity outpaces population growth quickly enough to soften the region’s persistent affordability squeeze, which county officials say leaves roughly one in five Upstate households housing burdened.