Fast-growing South Carolina is not without its growing pains. New data released by market research firm ATTOM Data Solutions show that South Carolina closed 2025 with the third-highest rate of foreclosure filings among all states.
But market experts say the rise in filings is largely attributed to "market normalization" after the pandemic.
The numbers
According to ATTOM, South Carolina recorded one filing for every 242 homes in 2025, just barely behind Delaware, which recorded one filing for every 240. Florida had the highest foreclosure rate last year, with one home in every 230 seeing a filing.
Among 225 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population of at least 200,000, Columbia had the second-highest foreclosure rate last year: One home in every 165. Lakeland, Fla., led the category with a foreclosure filing per every 145 homes.
Columbia was the only MSA in South Carolina to have more than 2,000 filings in 2025. It had 2,267.
The Charlotte MSA -- which includes York, Lancaster, Chester, and Chesterfield counties -- listed 2,985 filings, but those numbers include Mecklenburg County, N.C.
The Columbia MSA has a third of the homes of the Charlotte MSA.
The Spartanburg MSA had the 12th-highest rate of foreclosures nationally last year (one in every 213 homes); the Charleston MSA ranked 17th with one foreclosure filing for every 221 homes.
In just the fourth quarter of 2025, South Carolina had the highest rate of foreclosures among all states: One in every 689 housing units.
In December only, New Jersey had one filing for every 1,734 housing units; South Carolina was second, with one filing for every 1,917 housing units.
Foreclosure activity rose nationally from 0.23% to 0.26% of U.S. homes. Most of South Carolina’s 34 local markets saw increases in foreclosure activity over 2025 as well. Markets in Abbeville, Fairfield, Calhoun, Union, and Newberry counties saw less foreclosure activity last year.
The South Carolina region with the lowest foreclosure rate in 2025 was Bennettsville, which saw a filing for every 861 homes.
The reset
While foreclosure activity in South Carolina rose last year, it remained well below pre-Covid numbers, said ATTOM CEO Rob Barker, who attributed the 2025 trends as a “continued normalization of the housing market following several years of historically low levels” of foreclosure.
The interest rate hit its all-time low in 2021, at 2.96%. The current national average is 6.14%
Like Barber, South Carolina Realtors CEO Nick Kremydas attributed the rise in foreclosure filings last year to market normalization following the Covid pandemic.
“Expired moratoriums allowed lenders to process a backlog of distressed loans, while inflation and higher interest rates squeezed homeowners who bought at the market peak or were already financially stretched,” Kremydas said. “Since the pandemic, the market has been normalizing.”
Kremydas said the current situation in the markets in South Carolina reflects a return to more typical market conditions rather than a crisis. He also expects 2026 to be a not-volatile year for real estate.
“Boring is good,” he said. “2026 is the year South Carolina's real estate market finally gets to reset, moving from the post-pandemic frenzy into a period of sustainable balance. We are seeing inventory rise and price growth settle into a more sustainable single-digit range, which brings much-needed negotiation power back to the table for buyers.”
It’s not exactly a buyer’s market yet. South Carolina Realtors’ 2025 market report shows that buyers’ negotiating power has waned since 2021 -- a year when sale prices routinely exceeded asking prices in parts of the state, like York County.
In 2021, according to the report, buyers in South Carolina got 99.5% of what they asked for. Last year, they got 97.9%.
Days on market, statewide, have also ticked up steadily since 2022, from 44 days then to 72 days, on average, last year.
Condos spent an average 88 days on the market last year and fetched 97.4% of asking prices.
