How are Henderson County home sales faring in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene?

HENDERSONVILLE – Tropical Storm Helene might have scared off some buyers from purchasing homes in Henderson County, but data from real estate brokerage Redfin suggests that impact of the storm on home sales has been slight so far.

“Some buyers were in the process of looking at properties here and decided, ‘If it’s going to have a hurricane that bad, we’re not moving there,'” said Gainer Jernigan, a real estate agent with Keller Williams in Hendersonville. He said that his office had “a few” sales fall through because of the storm.

Debbi Moseley-Prince, a real estate agent and broker with Re/Max Results in Hendersonville, said that several agents in her office had similar experiences.

“One (property) across the state line in Travelers Rest (South Carolina) actually had a tree through it, and it killed the deal,” she said.

However, both agents predicted that demand would remain strong long-term.

Stan Lancaster’s home in Reedy Patch on Nov. 8, 2024. He has been cleaning up his home and property from when Tropical Storm Helene came through in September. Many roads are still being rebuilt in this area.

Lee Linhart, owner of the Re/Max Results agency in Hendersonville, said that property values typically come back within two years of a natural disaster.

“People have insurance settlements, so they’ve got money to spend,” he said “They don’t necessarily go back to the exact same spot, but watch it. Everybody’s kind of poised for a very good rebound.”

More: Luxury Hendersonville condo sale draws some disapproval in the wake of Helene

A rendering of Fairmont Heritage Place The Cedars, a condo project under development in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

By the numbers

A monthly market tracker from Redfin released Dec. 18 including data through the end of November 2024 suggests that home sales and prices changed only slightly in the wake of Tropical Storm Helene.

Helene hit Western North Carolina Sept. 27. That month, there were 129 homes sold in the county, and the median price was $460,000.

The subsequent months weren’t much different. In October 2024, there were 146 homes sold and the median sale price went up to $465,000. In November, there were 117 homes sold, and the median sale price was a little lower, $455,000.

Here is more data from Redfin’s market tracker report for Henderson County:

Candi Guffey, president of the Hendersonville Board of Realtors, said that data from the Multiple Listing Service through Dec. 31 likewise indicates that the real estate market has been resilient in the wake of Helene.

“When you look at the year-end totals of number of units sold in Henderson County, the net was down only 2% (compared to 2023), and given that we went through a catastrophic circumstance, not bad,” Guffey said.

Citing data from FEMA, she said 290 homes in the county had been deemed total losses from Helene, but noted that new construction is adding inventory to the market.

“Six months of inventory supply is considered a balanced market,” Guffey said. “We are still very far away from that measure of a balanced market, but we are moving toward a healthier balance of a market. It’s been very much in a seller’s advantage for many years, at every single price point, but it’s moving toward more of a balance.”

Portions of Bald Rock Road in Hendersonville are being rebuilt on Nov. 8, 2024. When Tropical Storm Helene landed in WNC Sept. 27 it washed away parts of the road. Many roads are still being rebuilt in this area.

Looking ahead

A separate Redfin Home Price Index report released Dec. 24 parsed housing market data from November and found that nationwide, U.S. home prices grew 0.5% between October and November of 2024. Between November 2023 and November 2024, prices rose 5.7%.

“Home prices are likely to keep rising steadily throughout 2025 at a similar pace,” Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement, predicting that homeowners who’d locked in low mortgage rates the past few years would be unlikely to move and assume higher rates, leaving a dearth of homes listed for sale and buyers competing for the ones that are available.

The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was 2.68% in December 2020. It rose to 7.44% in November 2023 and dropped to 6.72% in December 2024.

“When it hits that below 6%, I think you’ll see a huge boom in the market,” Linhart said, speculating that could happen by the end of 2025.

Jernigan noted that after years of prices getting pushed higher and higher, there had been 33 price reductions in three days between Dec. 30 and Jan. 2 in Henderson County.

“I think that we’re going to have a good year because of some of these prices that are settling out, and people that have been running around scared to buy a house, they need to buy a place to live,” Jernigan said. “A lot of people, they’re worried about the interest rates. Well, for almost 20 years, 6% was an average interest rate in this town.”

He suggested that home shoppers buy now if they can, and refinance their mortgages if rates drop.

“I think we’ll see some a lot of homes hit the market that may need be needing repairs just due to new hurricane issues and homeowners unable to make those repairs,” Moseley-Prince said. “That will be something to navigate, but there’s so many investors in the market that those will easily be sold and repaired and back on the market.”

“The question on everyone’s mind is to understand how, long-term, we’ll be affected,” said Guffey. She predicted that given the outdoor beauty and quality of life, Western North Carolina will remain a desirable place to live, though there will be ongoing concerns about how affordability affects the service industry and hospitality industry.

“Ultimately, this is a place that people want to be,” Guffey said.

More: FEMA hotel vouchers extended until Jan. 11, but long-term challenges remain after Helene

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Deirdra Funcheon is a reporter coving Henderson, Polk and Transylvania Counties for the Hendersonville Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Tips, comments, questions? Email DFuncheon@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Helene had slight impact on Henderson County NC housing real estate