New data detail pricey houses, rising home values and falling rent in the Rock Hill area

New U.S. Census Bureau data show where the highest-dollar homes are, how long people have been in their homes and a wealth of other housing details across the Rock Hill region.

The information comes from a new American Community Survey update. It provides five-year estimates for 2018-22, plus comparisons to the prior 2013-17 estimates. The survey is the most, and at times only, detailed look at housing for cities and towns the size of Fort Mill, York, Clover and Tega Cay.

Here are some of the highlights from the survey.

High-dollar homes in Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie

For every 20 Fort Mill homes, one is worth $1 million or more. And Fort Mill isn’t in the top two York County spots for highest home values.

Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie all have median home values above the $400,000 mark.

Tega Cay is highest at $462,900. That figure is up 26.1% from the prior five-year estimates. The nearly $96,000 difference is enough to buy many homes in other parts of York, Lancaster and Chester counties.

Lake Wylie has a $425,000 median home value, up 20.7%. Like in Fort Mill and Tega Cay, homes below the $300,000 mark all dropped considerably as an overall percentage. Everything above that median increased considerably.

The Fort Mill median home value of $414,600 is up 55.5%, or almost $148,000.

In Fort Mill, 74.4% of homes are valued at $300,000 or more, compared to 38.2% from prior five-year figures. Homes at $1 million or more jumped from 1.8% in 2013-17 to 4.9%. Million-dollar Lake Wylie homes increased from 2.3% to 3.2% of its total. Tega Cay went from 0.9% to 1.2%.

Rock Hill, Clover and York home value changes

Affordability is relative, but there are York County communities with home values closer to or below the county average than those northeastern hot spots.

Rock Hill has a median $232,500 home value, up 38.1%. In Rock Hill, 39.9% of homes are valued below $200,000. In the prior five-year estimates, that figure was 64.4%.

Clover saw its median home value increase 39.2% to $208,400. Homes at the $150,000 or more mark increased. Clover homes below that figure make up 23.1% of the town total, down from 52% from the prior estimates. Homes in the $300,000 to $500,000 range saw the biggest jump, from 1.7% to 14.5% of the town’s total.

York homes saw a slight decrease in value.

They went from a median of $158,500 to $157,600. The percentage of homes at or below $50,000 almost tripled to 18.7%, but otherwise homes below $200,000 decreased. Homes from $200,000 to $1 million increased from 26.5% of the city total to 35.8%.

York County home, mortgage, rent changes

Rock Hill easily has the most housing units in York County at more than 32,500. Fort Mill is the next closest with almost 9,500. Fort Mill grew the most, with 3,899 units from one five-year span to the next. Rock Hill grew by 2,445 units, followed by Tega Cay (1,338), Clover (669), Lake Wylie (639) and York (238).

The median mortgage is highest in Tega Cay at $2,565 a month. That amount is up $176 a month from the prior estimate, when Tega Cay was again highest.

Fort Mill ($2,054 a month) passed Lake Wylie ($1,990) for mortgage cost. Next were Rock Hill ($1,409), York ($1,337) and Clover ($1,269).

Mortgages in Fort Mill grew the most at $324 a month. Tega Cay ($176), Lake Wylie ($141), York ($121) and Rock Hill ($5) all increased too. Clover saw a $22 a month decrease.

Almost a quarter of all mortgages in Tega Cay, at 24.1%, cost $3,000 or more a month. Fort Mill and Lake Wylie each have more than 16% of their mortgages at $3,000 or more.

The York County median mortgage of $1,601 was up $72 a month.

For renters, Tega Cay was an anomaly.

Tega Cay went from the highest rent at $1,519 a month to the third-highest at $1,253. That drop of $266 a month was the only decrease in York County. Fort Mill had the highest increase at $215 a month, to $1,325.

Rock Hill increased $137 to $1,193. Lake Wylie rose $110 to a county-high $1,431. The $1,027 median rent in Clover is up $21, and the $810 a month in York is up $78.

The median York County rent was $1,204 a month, up $134.

Countywide, 1.6% of rent payments are for $3,000 a month or more. Tega Cay has 18.7% of its rent prices in that range. York is next at 2.5% followed by Rock Hill (1.3%) and Fort Mill (.9%).

Lancaster and Chester county home values

In Lancaster County, homes increased 34.4% to $272,100. Homes at $300,000 or more now make up 44.2% of the county, compared to 26.3% prior. Lancaster County figures include the Indian Land panhandle that isn’t split on its own in the latest data release.

New home sale data and past census releases show Indian Land is a small part of Lancaster County geographically but typically has more sales, homes and higher property value than anywhere else in the county.

City of Lancaster homes have a $194,300 median value. That figure is up 35.3%. Most of the increase came in the $300,000 to $500,000 range that went from 1% to 20.1% of city homes.

Chester County home values increased 25.6%, from $106,400 to $133,600. Each price point at or above $150,000 saw an increase. Each point at $300,000 or higher roughly doubled or more. Homes at $1 million or more almost tripled to 1.1%.

The city of Chester increased its median value from $88,300 to $99,000. The number of homes between $200,000 and $300,000 almost tripled by percentage.

Chester County mortgage costs were down to $1,077 a month, from $1,131 in the prior estimate. Rent was $831 a month, up from $735. In Lancaster County, the median mortgage was $1,554. That number increased from $1,391. Lancaster County rent was $881, up from $873.

How old are Rock Hill region homes?

More than 47% of Fort Mill homes were built between 2010 and 2019.

Since 2000, 69.3% of Fort Mill’s homes were built. Lake Wylie is close with 65.7% of its homes going up since 2000. Tega Cay is at 64.2%, with 36.3% built just from 2010 to 2019.

The York County share of homes built since 2000 is 47%.

On the opposite end of the building boom are older homes. In the city of Chester, 15.5% of all homes were built in 1939 or earlier. York has 10% of its homes in that range. Chester County is at 9.7%, and the city of Lancaster at 8.2%.

Bedrooms, vehicles and changing addresses

In Rock Hill, 3.2% of residences don’t have a bedroom. York is at 2.6% and Tega Cay at 1.9%. Clover has 11.1% of its residences with one bedroom. Chester has 10.4% and Rock Hill 9.3%.

On the opposite end, 20.7% of Tega Cay homes have five or more bedrooms. So do 17.9% of Fort Mill and 11.9% of Lake Wylie homes.

In the city of Lancaster, 14.4% of residences don’t have access to a vehicle. The city of Chester is at 12.4%, though that number is about half of what it was in the prior estimates.

The city of York is at 9.3%. Lake Wylie has the highest percentage of residences with three or more vehicles, at 26.7%. Next are Fort Mill (24.7%), York (24.5%) and Tega Cay (21.5%).

Lake Wylie has the highest percentage of households where residents moved in the past three years, at 8%. Next are the city of York at 7.6% and Fort Mill at 5.6%. In Fort Mill, 79.6% of households moved to their current address since 2010. Lake Wylie is next at 71.2%, followed by Clover at 70%.

The cities of Chester (19.4%) and Lancaster (10.3%) easily lead in households that moved into their current address in 1989 or earlier. York is next at 8.6% followed by Rock Hill at 7.6%.