Henderson County Real Estate Market Update For June

The market is not “broken,” it’s just different and the local data proves it. We kick off June with a clear-eyed real estate update for Hendersonville, Flat Rock, and the wider Henderson County housing market, using real numbers instead of scary headlines. Over the past 12 months, Henderson County sees more than 1,600 single-family homes sold, a modest rise year over year, and an average price hovering around the mid-$500Ks. With roughly 604 active listings, we explain what a 4.4 month supply actually means and why the story changes fast when you zoom into specific price points like $700K to $800K.

From there, we get into the question we hear every day: “Should we wait?” Higher mortgage rates and bigger monthly payments are real, and days on market are longer than they were a few years ago. But we talk through why waiting for the “perfect” interest rate might not solve the reason you want to move, especially when your home no longer fits your life. We share research from the National Association of Realtors and insights from Redfin on buyers who move because life forces a decision, not because the market feels ideal.

We also bring in a fast-rising factor in housing affordability: homeowners insurance. With hurricane season, extreme weather, and new insurer risk models, premiums and claim outcomes are changing across the country. We close with practical questions we use in our consultations, from equity and pricing to sell-first versus buy-first, so you can make a plan that fits your timing. If this helped, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more local homeowners can find it.

Transcript

Welcome And Flat Rock Hello

SPEAKER_02 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 broadcasts on the queue every Monday morning. Thank you so much. Welcome and thank you for being here. What a day it is here. Can you believe we're at the beginning of June and so grateful to be here with you? It feels like the first five months were a blur. I know my kids were great, are grateful to be out of school. Summertime is here. It's not officially summer, right? I think that's the what the 21st or something like that is coming up, but it's still, can you believe it? It's still springtime technically. Uh, but it feels like summer's here in the beginning of June. And and the real estate market in in this time of year is certainly the traditionally when you see more homes coming on the market, more homes selling. And I have some context to share with you what's going on in the local market, you know, here locally, nationally, and just to give you some context of what's going on in the real estate market. If you're tuning in for the first time ever, welcome the George Real Estate Group. We're located in Flat Rock along Rainbow Row with our friends there at the Flat Rock Bakery, Hubba Hubba Barbecue Campfire Grill, uh, the ice cream spot, hey chickadee, if I got that right. And again, some great and our friends at the Wrinkled Egg. Uh so much to be thankful for. We love our location. We love serving all of West North Carolina and the upstate. And we're located there in Flat Rock. Uh, you can stop by uh anytime uh and you can connect with us. We can have a conversation. Again, no pressure, no costs, no obligation for uh confidential consultation. If you're just curious about your the housing market, curious about what the the prices are doing. You're curious, do you sell before you buy? Or maybe you're thinking about how to strategically deal with an investment property, or considering or heard about the 1031 exchange, or maybe you're working through an estate. I mean, so many different scenarios that we're having conversations regularly with our clients and and again daily as to what it looks like. Life happens, therefore, real estate happens. And the market's the market, the economy is economy, the interest rates are the interest rates, and and every single day there's someone making a decision, having a conversation about buying and selling. And so it's a truly a privilege and honor to serve the community through real estate. We love having the conversations, love serving the community, love helping our clients. I I happen to I say this all the time. It you know, we're we're we're serving, we're helping people. It just happens to be houses. Uh, in regards to our team and our agents and our and our uh our company and incredible staff and and and agents that we have on our team. Uh I I framed it as you know, we're we're a personal development company that's helping people sell houses. I mean, like the agents, the growth, the the experience that they're getting. And again, if you're curious and if we can help you in any way, or curious, maybe you're thinking about a career in real estate. We it's a great time uh to get your real estate license. Again, there's uh you might have heard the numbers. It's it's really staggering. Only one in ten new licensees today will be in business in the next five years. It's also only second to the insurance industry with attrition, uh, with the number of people that get their license. You might have heard of the 80-20 rule. 20% actually do 80% of the business. Some people argue maybe the 90-10 rule, 10% do 90% of the business. And again, just because someone has a real estate license, again, they you know, at some point everybody has to, if they're choosing this career, you got to have your first one, which again, everybody remembers their first real estate transaction, or maybe everybody remembers their first house they bought or the first house they sold, right? Uh, and again, we over the years we've had the privilege of helping over 1,600 families throughout the years with real estate and residential real estate, land, uh, commercial, uh, 1031 exchanges. Those, again, we're it's a privilege and honor to help our community, help our clients, and navigate through the buying and selling process. Uh, one more thing about Flat Rock, being in Flat Rock this Saturday is the celebrate Flat Rock Ice Cream Social. Put that on your calendar uh from noon to 4 p.m. this Saturday, Flat Rock Village Hall. This Saturday, uh, they always have the free ice cream. Uh they're gonna have live music, the Apple Country string band, there's face painting, there's uh you know, books for sale, bring a chair to enjoy the music. Uh they they certainly want to remind you no pets. Uh, but the the Flat Rock celebrate Flat Rock Ice Cream Social, the first Saturday always in June. If again, if you can believe here, June is already here.

Henderson County Market Numbers

SPEAKER_02 5:08

So, what's happening? What's happening in the real estate market? What's happening here locally? I mean, in the last 12 months in Henderson County, single-family homes, we've actually had over 1,600 homes sell in the last 12 months. That's that's actually they've had a we've at we've locally in Henderson County, there's been a hundred more homes sold in the last 12 months versus the previous 12 months, which is again significant. I mean, there's the national news, I mean the sky is falling, you know, the nothing's selling, and that's just not true. But in the last 12 months, we've seen over a hundred more homes sold in the last 12 months than the previous 12 months. Also, fascinatingly, uh, if you look at the 12-month numbers with the average single-family home price in Henderson County, our average single-family home price in Henderson County is at 543. Uh, that's up from 538 during the previous 12 months. I mean, there's just some context of what's happening locally. We still have uh a good amount of inventory, 604 active homes on the market in Henderson County. And again, if you were to take the uh the number of homes selling over the last 12 months, divide that by 12, you know, we're averaging 135, uh almost 136 homes a month selling. I mean, that's a 4.4 month supply across the entire price point. Now, in different price segments, in different price segments, you could have now the economists say a six-month supply of inventory is considered a balanced market. Less than six months is a less than six months is a seller's market, more than six months is a buyer's market. And so, you know, the different price points can can have different uh types of markets. Uh, you know, for example, you know, above, let's just use the price point seven to eight hundred thousand in Henderson County, you know, seven to eight hundred thousand in Henderson County, uh, there's been seventy-three homes sold in the last 12 months. And so, I mean, that's a six, there's been six homes a month on average sold in that price point, but in that price point, you have 46 available. So in that price point, between 700 to 800,000, you actually have a seven plus month supply. And again, which means even though the entire county technically is in a seller's market with a four-month supply, each price point can have a different environment. And in that seven to eight hundred thousand dollar price point, there's actually a seven-month supply, which means it's actually a buyer's market, according to the way they the economists judge whether it's a buyer's or seller's market. It's all about supply versus demand. And this is true. This could be true in your specific neighborhood, it could be true in your specific price point, you know, location, all these factors that come into play. Um, again, the market. Here's the other thing to point out is days on market is getting longer. I mean, we're seeing closer to a hundred days on the market is more the average. I mean, we were seeing, you know, a couple years ago, two weeks, three weeks, two months. You know, again, now it's closer to 100 days on the market is average. And so the markets, it is certainly maybe maybe the word is stabilizing, maybe the word's normalizing. It's not the wild market that we saw a few years ago. And and here's the other funny thing, fascinating thing is with interest rates. Interest rates, you know, where they are, if you look at the last 50-year average, we're right on track with a 50-year average. And that's where everyone adjusted to the uh, you know, with the the the interest rates. Again, people are finding a way. Life happens. People are, you know, you know, life is happening, therefore real estate's happening, and and maybe you find yourself saying, we're gonna wait. And and maybe you're waiting for the the prices to get better, maybe you're getting waiting for the prices to go up, maybe you're waiting for the interest rates to change, maybe you're waiting, you're waiting for things to seem easier, maybe you're waiting for things to seem more predictable, maybe you're waiting and you're telling yourself things are going to get less expensive. And of course, waiting, of course, when you say those things, it it might it makes sense, but this is where a lot of people right now are, and they're and they're thinking about how does how does the interest rates, how does the economy, how's the housing market? And people buyers are looking at housing, the monthly payments, and they're they're saying, wow, this is different than it was a few years ago. You know, maybe a few years ago you could you could qualify for a $500,000 house with the low interest rates. Now you're saying, oh, I can only qualify for $300,000. And then maybe sellers are looking at the uh you know, at the more low mortgage rate they have right now and say, why would I give up a 3% or 4% interest rate? And so families across the country are trying to figure out how to make smart decisions in a market that feels still complicated.

Waiting Versus Moving For Life

SPEAKER_02 10:03

But the the thing and the question I think a lot of people are beginning to wrestle with is does waiting really resolve or solve the problem or the reason you want to move in the first place? And so maybe your family needs more space, maybe your family needs less space, maybe maybe you need the downsize, maybe the stairs in your house aren't working for you. Maybe it's that uh you need that extra bedroom, or the kids are sharing a room, or maybe the kids are going off to college, or maybe you need space for the grandchildren, or maybe you're done using the kitchen table as your uh work from home desk or or the or the dining room table. Maybe, maybe it's the maybe you need maybe it's the smaller, maybe you need smaller space. Maybe you you don't want to go upstairs, maybe it's the the yard is too much and the maintenance is too much, and maybe you don't want to maintain the house anymore. You want something that's a maybe you want a condo. Again, maybe that emptiness feels a little too empty, but again, so many reasons. It could be maybe you need to help your parents or or get or the grandparents are moving closer, or maybe you got married or and starting a new chapter, or the truth is maybe you you just recently got divorced and the house you're in represents a season that's ended. So life is happening again, regardless of these interest rates, and maybe we're your retirement's getting closer, and and maybe you had that vision of traveling or volunteering more, but you're managing or maintaining too much with your home. But you know, the vision you've carried for years is a different home or a different pace or a different setting or living closer to the people that matter. And so there's this not all about financial decisions, it's it's these life decisions, right? At some point, life can reach a place where waiting feels harder than moving. And so I hear this all the time from my clients that are retiring or clients that are moving into a retirement community. They they say they're glad they did it while they could. They didn't wait. And so that the truth is, this is why people are still buying and selling right now. Not because the market is perfect, not because interest rates are great, not because every number lines up on paper beautifully, right? I mean, they're people are moving because life, and I say this all the time, life is happening, therefore real estate's happening. And so, you know, life changes, life happens. And so this is interesting. According to the National Association of Realtors, this is a real part of today's market. Uh, National Association of Realtor has reported that one in five buyers said they felt they had to purchase a home when they did, regardless of the market conditions. In other words, for a meaningful share of buyers, the decision wasn't simply is the market perfect, it was is this the right move for my life? And so that's a this is a very important reminder, right? The of course the money and the dollars and the cents matter. Of course, they matter a lot. Your your payments matter, your equity matters, your down payment, your budget, I mean, all these things, right? Of course, they need to be considered carefully, but big life events don't wait for the mortgage rates to hit the number you had in your head. And people get married, people get divorced, babies are born, uh, adult children move back home, aging parents need support, job opportunities come up, health changes, retirement plans become real, and people simply realize the home I'm in no longer fits the life I'm I want or that I'm living. And so uh the head economist researcher at uh Redfin, Chen Zhao, said this life doesn't stand still. People get new jobs, grow their families, downsize after retirement, or want to live in a different neighborhood. And so that's the part of the market we don't always talk enough about. We we love talking about the the rates and the home prices and the inventory and the affordability as we should, but behind every transaction, there's usually a story, and it's it could be the growing family or the downsizing couple, it could be the uh a widow or a newlywed couple, a parent trying to be closer to the children or grandchildren. It could be a business relocation or or family looking for a different school district or less stairs or just a fresh start. And so that's why I've I've this is where, regardless of the economy, regardless of the interest rates, regardless of the market, there's always the market is the market. There's the ebbs and flows, there's the ups and downs, there's the cycles. And this is why real estate's not just about houses. I'd argue it's more about life transitions. And so here's the thing: the good news is while affordability is still a real challenge, there's still may be more opportunity in the market than than some people realize. So this is the the positive thing is and nationally inventory has been improving. Realtor.com reported that in 2026 active listings were up 4.6% year over year. New listings reached a four-year April high. The me now, this is the national news. Median list price was also down to 1.4% year over year. And also, this is it's a very frequent thing we see here. The share of listings with price reductions was 16.7 percent. So this is nationally, right? It's like saying the national average is 72, or saying the national temperature is 72 degrees. It doesn't mean every market's easy, it doesn't mean every home's negotiable, it doesn't mean it certainly you know, prices are not collapsing. Real estate is very local. Conditions, as I shared earlier, can vary by neighborhood by neighborhood, price point by price point. That's why I touched on what was happening here locally at the very beginning. But it is true, buyers have more choices, they have lot they have more breathing room. The rush is not what it was before. There's more time to make a decision. And this is also interesting at the same time. Nationally, pending home sales rose in April, both month over month and year over year, which tells us something even uh something important, even with affordability challenges, people are still moving when life calls for it. So the the question is not, is this a perfect market? Maybe the better question is does my current home still work for my life? Does it and and so because if the answer is yes, waiting may make sense, right? Like that's this is when we have our consultations, it's to provide clarity and information and knowledge so you can decide it's really about what's right for you and the right time, your timing is your timing. It's not about the interest rates or the pricing. And so, again, waiting might be the right decision for you, but if the answer is no, the home is too small, too large, or too far away, or too expensive to maintain, too difficult to navigate to get up the stairs, or just maybe it's tied to a chapter that's ended, then maybe waiting may not solve the problem. And so maybe you're just delaying the next chapter, and that's where these conversations we're having every single day with clients, and it's no pressure, it's not a sales pitch, it's just a real conversation. What's your home worth today? What would it look like in the next home? What how much equity do you have? You know, what kind of competition? What is the inventory? You know, what's negotiable? You know, could you sell first and buy second, or do you buy first and sell second? I mean, I mean, these are real questions that we're having every single day. Again, do you move closer to family? Do you could you improve your quality of life even if the interest rate is not ideal? And so these questions are the questions that help our clients make decisions that are best for them because sometimes the right move is to wait, and sometimes maybe the right move is to move, and the difference, and the key is knowing the difference, right? So we life is happening, real estate's happening, the market's the market, we can provide clarity and knowledge and information that and we and I share some of this here every single Monday here on the queue about what's going on in the market. But you know, the the the we know that real estate decisions are are deeply personal, and it and it's not about it's just not always about the numbers. The numbers matter, and the market matters, but life matters too. So again, if you're telling yourself I'm gonna wait, maybe the question to ask is, what are we exactly waiting for? And is waiting making our life better? Because there may be never that perfect time or that perfect market, but you can make a plan. You can make the plan that's right for you. And so with our local uh expertise and our understanding of the market and giving you options so you can make a decision that's right for you, whether it's now or later, again, it's just understanding what's possible. And so at the George Real Estate Group, we're here to come alongside you. We're helping people make thoughtful, informed decisions through every season. Again, just because you have a conversation with us doesn't mean you're doing anything, but it's getting clarity and knowledge and information about your situation. So we're so grateful to serve this community through real estate. We have these conversations every single day. If you're just curious and want to have a conversation, give us a call, 828-393-0134. 828-3930134. We have a short break coming up, so stay tuned in.

Summer Updates And Getting In Touch

SPEAKER_02 19:28

You're listening to the George Real Estate Group Live Radio Broadcast. Good morning and welcome back. You're listening to the George Real Estate Group Live Radio Broadcast here in the queue every Monday morning, sharing with you positive news about the real estate market. We're here again, so excited about the summer, so excited about the month of June, a lot of things happening. Again, inventory, real estate. We're having I mean, life happens. We keep having, and we're so grateful to help our clients. Again, can be really positive why someone's buying or selling, can be really challenging, but we're having these conversations every single day. We have incredible agents, we have an incredible team, incredible staff. And if you're thinking about a career in real estate, thinking about uh, you know, a new uh opportunity, we'd love to have those conversations. I mean, we have awesome people on our team, and we we are growing, we're hiring more people, uh, hiring more staff, hiring more agents. And so if we can help you in any way, if you're just curious about that industry and what and how we do what we do, we'd love to have that conversation. Uh, we're so grateful. We're located in Flat Rock. Again, reminder this Saturday is a celebrate Flat Rock ice cream social from noon to 4 p.m. this Saturday at Flat Rock Village Hall. Uh, the the free ice cream, the music, uh, the uh the activities, bring a chair, no pets. It's gonna be great this Saturday. Please come out. This is it's really exciting. It's a time for the community to come together. Uh, and we again just love uh you know being part of the community, love serving the community. Uh we had uh we have just an incredible team, so we'd love to meet you. Stop by our office anytime there in Flat Rock. We'd love to meet you, have a conversation, and and just again, every day we're having conversations, we're navigating uh with our clients, helping them navigate through whatever is going on in life, and and again, we'd love to have that conversation. Uh, we podcast, by the way, we podcast all of our radio shows. Uh, we'd be honored if you subscribe and follow our podcasts on your favorite podcast platform. It could be Spotify, uh, Apple, Amazon, uh, Alexa, wherever you listen to your podcast, be sure to subscribe to the George Real Estate Group Radio Broadcasts, and we podcast that. We've been growing that and growing our our followers and our downloads of our podcasts. Again, follow us on our podcast. We'd love to connect with you there. You can also follow us on social media, uh Facebook and Instagram. Uh we're there. You can see our new listings and our our properties that we've sold.

Home Insurance Claims And Premium Spikes

SPEAKER_02 22:00

and and homes going under contract and just love to connect with you there uh on social media you can connect with us and and then again just call us directly 828 393 0134 828 393 0134 i saw an interesting article on uh I I have a great uh newsletter uh email that I follow called Morning Brew it's it's a very informative and they they they cover a lot of topics but you know there's a lot of conversations going on about insurance and so uh you know here we are we're going into you know the Atlantic hurricane season actually I think technically starts today and they uh they have um a lot of names already already picked out and uh you know certainly we're hoping and praying that uh we're gonna you know we're gonna see uh you know very we're gonna be we're gonna be hopefully will our hurricane season this year will be kind to us but the a lot of uh the according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal many Americans face a near quote flip of the coin chance that they'll get some relief from home insurance carriers when weather damages their house the in the outlet's analysis the article says here on the morning brew the five biggest home insurance groups all state farmers insurance liberty mutual state farm and united services automotive association usa didn't pay out uh more on more than forty four percent of claims resolved last year and that's up some 36% uh from 36% in 2015 and a lot of the reasons uh that they're saying um for why is you know the new risk assessment methods traditionally insurers based underwriting on historical data what has happened but are increasingly using predictive models what they believe will happen to set premiums and the use of drone footage to calculate a home's risk score is also driving up costs for some customers uh the article also goes on to say reinsurance cost reinsurance costs the term essentially refers to insurance for insurance companies and those prices have increased to the rise of extreme weather and of course we here locally experience one of the most extreme weather events and our community still recovering from Helene and a report produced by the Treasury Department last year found that the number of weather and climate disasters causing more than one billion dollars in damage increased five times from 2018 through 2022. And then also COVID 19 actually the experts say that pandemic era supply chain snarls and companies insurance companies losses from them continue to be a hidden driver of price hikes. But insurance companies want you to know this is so interesting according to the article by the Morning Brew that people aren't super good at filling out claim submissions several insurances say said that the rise in claims filed by text or through an app has led to more submittals that aren't up to snuff. USA spokesman said that the Wall Street Journal's number crunching did not account for losses below a deductible claims not pursued by customers or claims later reopened and paid and with those accounted for he said fewer than six percent of USAA's claims were denied. So interesting and so the zoom out on this article says this in the Pew Research Center survey of homeowners conducted in March 42% of respondents said that home insurance premiums have increased by a lot quote over the past two years and since homeowners insurance is required to secure a mortgage you know the ramifications impact consumer spending the housing market and more here locally thankfully our insurance is compared we hear this all the time when people are moving here from say Florida or or New York or California that there is there is something to be said about the cost the fact that we can even get insurance right here locally but I mean obviously some places in Florida you cannot even get insurance uh but when you look at the cost of insurance and you look at the cost of taxes property taxes here locally and I know the conversation is happening about affordability but when you compare our affordability in the context of insurance and taxes I don't have specific numbers I'll have to do some research on this but we are very fortunate. Again our affordability problem could be even worse but I will say there is the one of the silver linings here locally is our taxes and insurance costs. When you compare it to Florida New York or California it's significant it's the the joke that I've experienced here and it's fascinating we hear this all the time when people are saying well how much you know uh how much are your taxes and and maybe it's maybe it's two thousand or three thousand dollars and and the client says oh per month that's okay that's about in line with what we're paying up in New York and I'm like no that's per year and they they have that moment of wow again it's all relative and again compared to what you're comparing it to but the thankfully again one of the I will say one of the silver linings of our uh community and our area here being in North Carolina is the taxes and insurance here comparatively to other areas of the country where taxes and insurance are just becoming unsustainable. And so again even though we are uh you know there's the there is a real conversation about affordability again it it's it's so fascinating um to have that conversation it is here less expensive than other parts of the country the the insurance and taxes so again there there is something to be said about that but we're having these conversations again if you're curious about the housing market if you're curious about a career in real estate if you just want to to to ask questions or or meet our team or stop by our office uh or come by the Flat Rock Ice Cream Social this Saturday and meet our team we'd love to connect with you and again we're thankful and grateful to serve the community through real estate it's it's a privilege and honor.

Local Affordability And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_02 28:30

We love being here every Monday morning sharing with you positive news about the community. So again if we can help you in any way give us a call 828-3930134. Find us online at realestatebygreg.com also follow us on social media.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Have a great day have a great week and we'll see you next Monday the George Real Estate Group has the experience of selling over 1200 properties and serving over 1200 families with their real estate needs in Henderson County and throughout Western North Carolina. The George Real Estate Group is located in Flat Rock, North Carolina near Hendersonville in Henderson County. You can find them online at realestatebygreg.com The George Real Estate Group can be reached at 828-3930134 or stop by their office at 2720 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, North Carolina.

Right Sizing And The Next Chapter

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Tune in live each week on Monday mornings at 905 on WTZQ FM 95.3 and 1600 AM or stream online at WTZQ.com maybe the house feels a little too big these days the stairs a little steeper 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.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

So when you're ready to right size simplify or start fresh we'll be here the George Real Estate Group local trusted proven call us today 828-3930134 find us online at realestatebygreg.com because your next chapter deserves to feel just right