Why Some U.S. Housing Markets Are Cooling While Western North Carolina Stays Steady

The headlines make it sound like one housing market, but what we see on the ground proves something different: real estate is local. We’re checking in from Western North Carolina with a clear-eyed market update, including what we’re noticing around Hendersonville and Flat Rock, how inventory levels are shifting, why buyer demand is still holding, and what a longer days-on-market number actually signals for both buyers and sellers.

We also zoom out to the national housing market story behind the noise. The pandemic migration supercharged Sunbelt markets, builders raced to add supply, and then mortgage rates reset affordability fast. That mix is cooling some regions and even pushing a small rise in underwater mortgages. We put those numbers in context, compare today’s environment to the 2008–2009 housing crisis, and explain why tighter lending standards, homeowner equity, and low foreclosure rates matter when you’re trying to understand risk.

Then we get practical about a new force shaping real estate: AI. We talk about how artificial intelligence is changing home search, photo analysis, inspection report summaries, and virtual staging, plus where it can go wrong with bad data or unrealistic images. Our bottom line stays simple: AI is a powerful assistant, but it doesn’t replace local knowledge, negotiation skill, or the trust that carries people through big life transitions.

If you’re thinking about buying, selling, investing, or you just want a no-pressure value conversation, listen in and reach out. Subscribe, share this with a neighbor, and leave a review so more people can find real-world real estate guidance.

Transcript

Welcome And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, friends. Thank you so much for being here. This is the George Real Estate Group podcast, which is a production of our live weekly radio shows hosted on multiple radio stations here in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group serves Western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina, and it is a privilege to share positive news about our local real estate market and community. Thanks so much for subscribing. And of course, if you have any real estate questions or if we can help you in any way, be sure to reach out. Visit us at George Real Estate Group Radio.com for more information. Good morning and welcome to the George Real Estate Group Live Radio Broadcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you're doing well. And oh, there's the music again. Again, thanks so much for tuning in, the George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast. I hope you're doing well. And thank you for being here. We're going to talk a lot about what's going on in the real estate market and what's going on in the housing market, the national market, the local market, and even some updates on how technology is impacting real estate. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome the George Real Estate Group. We're located in Flat Rock. We serve all of Western North Carolina and the upstate South Carolina. If you're thinking of buying, selling, or investing in real estate, give us a call, 828-393-0134-828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. We also podcast all of our radio shows. You can find that on your favorite podcast platform, Apple, Amazon, Alexa, Spotify. We're there. Tune in and subscribe to our podcast. We're also on social media, you know, Facebook and Instagram. But like I said, you can stop by our office in Flat Rock. We serve all of Western North Carolina and the upstate and based in Flat Rock. I saw there was a recent article about Flat Rock in R State. They had an R State uh magazine article. And I'm not sure if it wasn't just the digital side or the print side too, but it was a great article about Flat Rock. And again, grateful to be here. We have the experience of helping over 1,600 families throughout the years. We have over a hundred years combined experience. And again, if we can help you buy, sell, or invest in real estate or a career in real estate, or uh curious about your estate planning in regards to real estate or in regards to your investment properties and tax strategies and buying real estate to offset your taxes. That's one strategy, or even selling real estate and taking advantage of a 1031 exchange where you can avoid and well, not avoid, you can't avoid, you can defer the taxes uh through a 1031 exchange. And we've been helping a lot of clients navigate through that. So if we can help you in any way, give us a call, 828-393-0134. 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestate by greg.com. We also have George Real Estate Groupradio.com as well. The market continues. Here we are, middle of March, and the market absolutely is continuing, moving strong, and the inventory levels slightly increasing, but the buyer demand is remaining strong, and we're going to continue to see that. The interest rates have been, you know, there's a little bit of up and down with the real estate with the interest rates, but that's that is okay. And you know, it's interesting. There are there are some concerns. Of course, people are concerned about what's going on in the in the real estate market, and there's the the of course the news headlines, all those things, which you gotta put into context. And so, you know, um the housing, there's you know, the here's the thing. Over the past few years, the housing market in a lot of parts of the country, here's the bigger picture, you know, they got very hot. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, something unusual happened in the real estate world. Millions of Americans suddenly realized they could work from anywhere, and it actually triggered a massive migration towards regions that offered lower cost of living, warmer weather, more space, and a lot of those buyers packed up and moved to what's often called the Sunbelt, like states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and other parts of the southeast and southwest. And for a while, those markets felt unstoppable. You know, home prices soared, inventory disappeared, homes were selling in days or even hours with multiple uh multiple offers, builders were scrambling to keep up with demand, you know, but the housing market moves and cycles. And after a market gets extremely hot, it's common for things to cool down. And some those now some of those same regions are experiencing exactly that. You know, many of the areas that saw the biggest pandemic boom are now seeing a noticeable slowdown. You know, the southeast and the southwest, particularly places like Texas and Florida, are now seeing more homes for sale, slower buyer activity, moderate pricing. You know, in some cases, these markets have become oversupplied after years of aggressive construction and rapid population growth. And when supply increases faster than demand, prices tend to soften. Again, this is what's happening in some of those areas. And we've talked about that in context of what's happening here. Here, and again, the difference between those extremes, extreme highs and extreme lows, ours has been this steady growth. And and I and for context, our local market here. I mean, there's only we're in the only in the 400 range of active single-family homes in the market. And I mean, so we we still have low inventory here. But here's the thing about supply and demand here locally, we're steady. And one of the indicators analysts are watching closely is the number of homeowners who are now underwater on their mortgage. And what it means to be underwater, and this is uh here locally, we're not seeing that, but in some parts of the country, a homeowner is considered underwater when they owe more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth. I mean, it could be here, but that's we've not been seeing that yet. But you know, a buyer purchases a home for$500,000, they put a small down payment down, the market falls, the market value falls to$475. Now their loan balance is higher than the home's value. And this situation doesn't automatically mean someone will lose their home, but it can create challenges if they want or need to sell. And then according to data from the Intercontinental Exchange, the number of underwater mortgages have increased recently. About 2.1% of homeowners with mortgages were underwater at the end of 2025, and that roughly uh equates to about 1.1 million homeowners nationwide, and so the share of underwater buyers, borrowers has risen 60% since the beginning of 2025, and that's the highest level since 2018, but it's still far below the level seen during the 2008-2009 housing crisis. That's not the we're nowhere near what it was, and we're far below those levels. And so, of course, there's a several several forces that are that combined to cool some of these previously red-hot markets. And again, I'm just giving you some national perspective. You know, first the mortgage rates jumped significantly in 2022. We've talked about this interest Federal Reserve raised interest rates to fight inflation, and so when mortgage rates rise, more monthly payments increase, and that reduces affordability for buyers. For example, a buyer who could comfortably afford a$500,000 home when the rates were 3% suddenly found the same payment, might only support a$375,000 or$400,000 purchase when rates jumped above 6%. And that change alone slowed buyer demand. And then, second, homeowners, excuse me, home builders dramatically increased construction in many of the Sun Belt markets to keep up with that earlier surge in migration. And so while new housing supply is generally a good thing, the timing created a situation where new inventory hit the market right as buyer demand began began slowing. And so more supply and fewer buyers is what this is the natural impact of supply and demand. So cooled down the prices. And so some homeowners face underwater mortgages when they bought their home in 2022 when prices were near their peak and mortgage rates were still climbing. And so some homeowners are facing higher mortgage payments, softer home values, and slower buyer demand. And again, and this is uh across the country, this isn't here locally, but because of that, you know, homeowners in this situation are choosing not to sell right now, which instead of listing their homes and potentially taking a financial loss, they're staying put and waiting for the market recovery. And this this behavior can actually slow down housing activity because, as we're seeing here locally, fewer homeowners are willing to list their home and put their home in the market. But this is the point, and again, this is why this is real estate is local. Real estate is it's like saying the average temperature in the United States is 72 degrees. And so here's the thing. Interestingly, while some of the parts are cool, other parts of the country are cooling, others are heating up. The West Coast, the Midwest, parts of the Northeast are seeing stronger demand right now. A lot of these markets didn't experience the same dramatic pandemic price surges the Sunbelt did. And because the prices didn't spike as aggressively, they're not they're also not experiencing the same corrections. And so, in fact, buyer activities increased in several Midwestern and Northeastern cities. And according to realtor.com, two of the hot hottest housing markets in the country last month were uh Kennesha, Wisconsin, and Hartford, Connecticut. In some of these areas, the homes are selling quickly and demand remains strong. You know, here locally, we've shared this before. We're averaging some 130 single-family homes a month selling. We have swallowed 10% increase uh from 2025 to 2024, uh looking at the buyer demand increase here locally, and our inventory levels are low. So the biggest thing for our market here locally is days on market has has increased to close to two months. Um, so real estate markets rarely move in a straight line. Instead, they behave more like a pendulum. When markets get extremely hot, sellers gain all the leverage, homes sell quickly, prices climb rapidly, buyers compete aggressively, but eventually affordability tightens, supplies increase, demand cools, and when that happens, the pendulum swings back the other direction. And so that's what we're seeing in some of the markets that were the biggest winners during the pandemic. So even though some regions are experiencing cooling prices and a small rise and underwater mortgages, again, be careful with the headlines, the overall housing market remains far healthier than it was during the 2008 housing crisis. And so, of course, the the the they learned so much. The mortgage lending standards are much stronger. Most homeowners have significant equity. If you are in a financial crisis right now, we're seeing this here locally. If someone's lost their job, if there was a financial crisis or health crisis, again, there's maybe you lost a loved one. I mean, there's uh there's multiple reasons why you might be facing a crisis, and we don't take that lightly. A lot of times there's enough equity in there to push the the button for uh the parachute and have some equity in your home to sell, start over, and have a reset. Of course, the other thing to be just again, foreclosures rates remain very low. Uh people ask me all the time, hey, we want to buy a foreclosure. I think we have less than 1% of our market here is even uh in the foreclosure status. Or again, so our market here, if someone's in financial crisis and has to sell their home for whatever reason, you usually have equity in your home and you can sell it and get some equity out and avoid the foreclosure. And then housing inventory is still limited in many markets here locally. Again, less than 500 homes on the market. So, what in other words, we're just not seeing a housing crash. It's it's just a market adjusting after several years of extraordinary growth. And and we saw home prices, frankly, just stay flat, which is amazing. Our average single-family home price over the last 12 months, 540. Again, there's so many different factors going on. And we know real estate always a cycle. You have top of the market, you have a downturn, you have the bottom, and then you have a recovery. That's just the bigger picture of it. But you know, our market here is staying very steady, very healthy. Buyer demand is strong, inventory levels are low. We're going into the spring market. You know, we know real estate life happens, therefore real estate happens. So if again, if you want to have the conversation, no, no, no costs, no pressure, no obligation. If you're just curious what your home is worth, you know, we'd love to have the conversation. And again, we're we're we have an incredible team, we have incredible staff. Uh, we love, and we're enthusiastic. We love helping and serving our community through real estate. So if you're thinking about a career in real estate, we're hiring. It's a great time to get into the industry, and and again, it's a great uh opportunity to serve the community. This is the George Real Estate Group radio broadcast uh each week. And again, we're grateful to be here. You can subscribe to our podcast. We podcast all of our radio shows. You can find on your favorite podcast platform. You can follow us on social media for our upcoming open houses, and it can be on Facebook or Instagram. And you can also stop by our office there in Flat Rock. We are grateful to be in Flat Rock there on Rainbow Row. Uh, we serve all of Western North Carolina and the upstate. So if you're thinking of buying, selling, or investing in real estate or a career in real estate, give us a call, 828-393-0134, 828-393-0134. Have you uh I know AI is in the news, and I don't know if you've had a chance to uh there's a lot of different platforms, a lot of free platforms you can try out and test out, you know, AI. Uh, but you know, AI is changing the way people buy and sell homes. You know, the buying or selling a home, you know, is is this is what we do every single day. It's it's it's it's not a simple process. Um, it is certainly something that we are here to advocate and navigate with our clients, buying and selling. But you know, if you've gone through the routine, the searching the listings late at night, scheduling the showings, reading through the inspection reports, negotiating the offers, and even posting that celebratory photo, holding a set of keys, house keys with a caption. You know, so we did a thing. Uh, but you know, it is exciting and and it also can can be overwhelming, and that's why us as real estate brokers we're here to help our clients navigate through the process. But you know, this is interesting how AI is beginning to help streamline the process for uh you know for real estate brokers, for consumers, you know, and so this is interesting with AI. Uh, you know, you can help it search through hundreds, if not thousands of listings, and AI can help you, you know, if you want to look at price range or number of bedrooms or square footage or property type or or lot size. I mean, the thing is with uh home searches, you know, years ago, and I've heard from the veterans in the real estate industry, there was this book that came out every two weeks, and that book was the you know, that was the access to what homes were available. And if you had access to the book, you could see what's available. And then with the dawn of the internet, and I I got my uh real estate broker's license in 2005, you know, it was a very early adoption of real estate and internet and technology, and even per, you know, the then it the adoption of digital photography. And I mean, I remember when I first got my license as to, you know, you have to put the house in the newspaper, but you know, it that was a uh a thing of where it's that's not a thing anymore. And everything's internet driven, and you can search for homes for sale on the internet. Now here we go. Now another shift in the in the industry and how things are done. But you know, the AI, artificial intelligence can help simplify the process. You know, the the instead of clicking through menus and checks checkboxes on these websites, buyers can now describe what they want in plain language. For example, someone could say, hey, find a three-bedroom home under$500,000 with a fence yard, fireplace, and a dog park nearby. AI systems can interpret that request, narrow down the search automatically. You know, and some platforms even allow users to launch real estate apps directly from the prompt or websites. It could, you know, someone could say, hey, check out realtor.com, check out uh Zillow, you know, the beginning of the request, and the system can actually open up the interface, display homes matching the criteria with maps, photos, property details. You know, in other words, home searching is starting to look more like a having a conversation than filling out a spreadsheet. Of course, AI still has limits. You know, it can help find homes with a dog park nearby, but it it won't tell you if your neighbors uh you know is the neighborhood you want to be in, or you know, you don't know the nuances of the neighborhood. Um, but again, for that, you still need a good local agent. But again, this is where you know AI can help you know analyze. They can even AI is even analyzing listing photos, and and AI can even you know help with property descriptions to identify potential concerns, maybe as an older roof or an HVAC system that could be the end of its life or the cracks in the drywall. I mean, AI's looking at the photos, and of course, these tools never replace a professional inspection. They can give buyers early insight into the possible repair costs or maintenance issues. Also, AI can estimate ongoing expenses. Uh, AI can analyze, you know, even though the you might have the beautiful vaulted ceilings that can that look amazing in the photos. That you might not realize this, but it can actually increase heating and cooling costs. And they're, you know, it's wild. AI can even analyze the ceiling height, the insulation, the climate data to estimate energy usage. And it and this information can be helpful for buyers making more informed decisions. You know, this is even where AI is being used to analyze inspection reports. Inspection reports, you know, are often filled with technical data and a long list of issues. The typical report might include dozens or even hundreds of items ranging from minor maintenance to serious structural concerns, and uh AI uh can can translate those reports into plain language. I mean, buyers are now uploading inspection notes and asking AI to explain what the issues mean, estimate potential repair costs, identify items for routine maintenance versus serious concerns. It's this is incredible, but you know, all these things, you know, and here's the thing artificial intelligence isn't just helping buyers, it's also a valuable tool that real estate professionals are using. You know, one of those most common uses for AI, and you might have noticed this on the listing photos, is virtual staging instead of physical staging. Uh now uh AI can digitally add furniture and decorative photos. This is helping buyers visualize how space might look with furnish without the cost of renting and moving staging furniture. Also, AI can say, hey, I want to see what this kitchen looks like with white cabinets. I want to see what this kitchen looks like with granite counter count countertops. Again, if you this might seem here we are in this new new brave new world, but you can even say we can even upload photos of a kitchen and say, hey, we want to see what this kitchen look would look like with stainless steel appliances. We want to look what see what this living room would look like with hardwood floors. It's remarkable what AI can do now. Um, and instead of um, you know, again, just the the the tools that AI can help with these plants. And here's the thing that be careful though. With all like all emerging technology, AI tools produce strange results. This does not replace the human. And there's a there's this is where you know there's some stories about AI generating real estate photos that that include unrealistic elements or things that just weren't even real, or extra windows, or or the they might change things that are you know not real. And this is why human oversight is essential. You know, these glitches highlight important an important point. AI should be used as a tool, not as a replacement for professional judgment. And this is why, again, the human insight, it's this where this is this is this is where again the AI results are not perfect. And that's where there's this balance, right, between how can we utilize this to be effective and help us, but also human insight is is critical. So in just so many so many tools that AI so here's the thing AI don't believe artificial intelligence will replace the human side of real estate. And buying a home is still one of the most emotional and financially significant decisions that people will make. And that process involves trust, negotiation, local knowledge, the nuances and experience. And so AI is a tool that can help with the process, and and if it can help buyers search faster, maybe analyze properties more clearly. But and then for agents, it can help streamline the marketing, even the communication. But here's in in many ways, AI is a powerful assistant in the home buying process and selling process, not a substitute. Um, and this is why we again technology is a tool, and just like we evolved with real estate in regards to real to the internet, AI is another piece of the puzzle. And again, it could be uh again, it could be used for like a personal assistant, and this is where AI can can help streamline the process and and and it can again it could it is a tool. It is a tool. Now I will say this is also interesting. There's some a lot of concern about artificial intelligence, and and I certainly am uh uh uh aware and following that too. But I one of the best examples I heard of AI was uh as powerful and as useful as it is, the you know, the in the physical world, uh they equate it, they're equating AI is the digital version of nuclear, and nuclear in the physical world is incredibly powerful and useful, and can nuclear power can power an entire city. It also has the power to destroy an entire city, and and that's the tension, right, between something like nuclear power has the it has in great use and great impact on society, both negative and positive. Artificial intelligence is the same, it has the ability to be incredibly helpful, and there's the the dark side too, the the the concern uh of AI. And and again, that was the best example I've heard of artificial intelligence in regards to how to frame it. And the and as as as beneficial as nuclear power is to power an entire city, it has the ability to destroy it. And that's the same thing with artificial intelligence in the digital world. It can help us, but the concern is the dark side of that. So I don't talk about AI AI without caution. Uh, there's also some risks, you know, there's concerns. You know, here's the thing: if if buyers rely too heavily on AI-generated advice, they're gonna miss out important nuances in local markets. Relationship, sorry, real estate remains extremely local and relationship driven. These algorithms don't always capture that. And here's the thing AI also depends on data quality. If the listing contains inaccurate information, AI tools can produce misleading results. This is the thing why real estate agents still matter. One thing that's becoming very clear: AI is not replacing real estate agents. Instead, it is changing how real estate agents operate. You know, the real estate transactions involve far more than just the data in the listings. They involve negotiations, emotional decisions, psychological components, local knowledge, local nuances, legal complexities, financial structures, inspection issues, contract management. Here's the thing AI may help real estate agents and buyers search faster, analyze data, but guiding someone in in a in a in a buyer walking through one of the biggest financial decisions of their life still requires human expertise. And this is why most industry experts AI will act as a powerful assistant, not a replacement. And so if this can be helpful, I do believe this is I just I'm here's the reality. AI is here. And it's this is interesting. We've been using AI in in helping with our marketing and helping with our our processes, and it's been we've been using AI for I guess two years now. And here's the thing, if they if agents don't embrace technology, just like agents that didn't want to embrace the internet or or were slow to the you we were ahead of the curve. We were ahead of the curve using the internet with real estate. Uh, I do believe we're ahead of the curve utilizing AI for real estate. This is where agents who who know how to use AI, uh, it will be agents who know how to use AI will outperform those that don't. Just like we embrace digital photography, just like we embrace the internet marketing. Uh, again, we're embracing artificial intelligence as is a tool to help serve our clients and to help our processes. So again, grateful. I just thought I'd have the conversation. This is the real, this is what's happening in the real world is artificial intelligence and how this is impacting how we help our clients and how our clients are using it. Again, it's a tool. But again, if you're curious how we're using it uh to help, uh, and if you're curious, we'd love to have the conversation. Again, relationships trump everything. And this is where we it's the privilege and honor to walk alongside with our clients, navigating through really beautiful uh celebratory reasons why our clients are buying or selling, or the challenging moments. Again, real estate is relationship driven, and I don't think that'll ever be replaced. And so it's a privilege and honor to serve our community through real estate. If you're thinking about buying, selling, or investing in real estate or a career in real estate, if you're curious about uh you know 1031 exchanges, if you're curious about real estate investments, if you're curious about how real estate in your estate planning and your trust planning, if you're curious how you can buy real estate to offset your income, we're helping clients do that. We're helping clients do 1031 exchanges, we're helping clients with their investment properties. And we're it's amazing. We've and we're loving helping our first-time homebuyers. There's everybody's at different uh uh places in their real estate journey, in their careers and in their lives. But if we can help you in any way, give us a call 828-393-0134, 828-3930134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com. Again, grateful to be here each week talking and sharing about the local real estate market and community. Again, George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcast. Find us on social media, find us on realestatebygreg.com. Again, grateful to be here each week. And again, the George Real Estate Group Radio broadcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. Help me have a wonderful day, have a wonderful week, and we'll see you next time. The pace of life, a little too fast. But what if your next move wasn't about letting go? It was about making space for peace, for freedom, for what matters most. At the George Real Estate Group, we understand that real estate isn't just about the house. It's about transitions, timing, and trust. We've helped thousands of families in Western North Carolina make smart, thoughtful moves. Closer to nature, closer to family, closer to home. So when you're ready to rice-size, simplify, or start fresh, we'll be here. The George Real Estate Group. Local, trusted, proven. Call us today, 828-393-0134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Thank you for listening to the George Real Estate Group Podcast. Tune in next time for more industry news, updates, and real estate tips. You can reach Greg, the George Real Estate Group, at 828-393 0134 or at realestatebygreg.com.