SC realtors closed 7,973 transactions in April 2026 — up 1.5% from the same month last year. More deals closed. More commissions earned. But from the moment a contract was signed to the day agents got paid, they waited an average of 78 days (DTC — Days to Close). That is 13% longer than April 2025. The market is busier and the wait is getting longer at the same time. More money earned means more money sitting unpaid for longer.
April 2024 statewide DTC was 67 days. April 2025 came in at 69 days. April 2026 landed at 78 days. Three consecutive Aprils, three consecutive increases. Even spring — historically SC's fastest closing season — is getting slower every year. The trend is structural, not seasonal.
Spring is historically the strongest closing season in South Carolina. Buyer activity picks up, transactions accelerate, and contract-to-close times typically shorten from the slower winter months. April 2026 did improve compared to Q1 — but it failed to match the pace of April 2025. When a month that should be performing well is still running 13% behind last year, that is a structural signal, not a seasonal blip. SC realtors are entering the busy season with a bigger cash flow gap than they had 12 months ago.
Contract-to-close times vary dramatically across South Carolina. The same state, the same month — but a Hilton Head agent waits more than 2.5 times longer than a Charleston agent to receive the same commission check.
| Region | DTC — April 2026 | vs Statewide avg | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charleston Trident | 51 days | 27 days faster | +8.5% |
| Piedmont Regional | 58 days | 20 days faster | +9.4% |
| Greater Columbia | 56 days | 22 days faster | +9.8% |
| Greater Greenville | 57 days | 21 days faster | +16.3% |
| Sumter/Clarendon County | 60 days | 18 days faster | +5.3% |
| Pee Dee | 67 days | 11 days faster | -19.3% |
| Spartanburg | 66 days | 12 days faster | +83.3% |
| Western Upstate | 79 days | 1 day slower | +23.4% |
| Greenwood | 94 days | 16 days slower | -15.3% |
| Central Carolina | 93 days | 15 days slower | +16.3% |
| Cherokee County | 121 days | 43 days slower | +80.6% |
| Greater Augusta | 122 days | 44 days slower | +19.6% |
| Aiken | 127 days | 49 days slower | +25.7% |
| Coastal Carolinas | 127 days | 49 days slower | +1.6% |
| Beaufort | 139 days | 61 days slower | +26.4% |
| Hilton Head Area | 131 days | 53 days slower | +89.9% |
This is not a one-month anomaly. The contract-to-close trend in South Carolina has been moving in one direction for three consecutive years. In April 2024 the statewide average was 67 days. By April 2025 it had risen to 69 days. April 2026 came in at 78 days. That is 11 more days of unpaid commission per transaction than two years ago — a 16% increase since 2024 with no sign of reversal.
Multiply the number of April closings by the average DTC and you get a picture of how much earned but unpaid commission is sitting in the SC pipeline at any given moment. In April 2026 that number reached 621,894 agent-days of unpaid commission statewide. The busier the market gets and the longer contracts take to close, the bigger that number grows. April 2026 represents the highest this figure has been in the 26 months tracked in this report.
The SC median home price in April 2026 was $342,900 — up 0.9% from last year. At a 3% commission rate that is approximately $10,287 per transaction. That check is sitting unpaid for an average of 78 days (DTC) from contract signing. As both prices and DTC continue to rise, the dollar amount of commission sitting unpaid per agent grows every month. The combination of higher prices and longer wait times is compounding the cash flow pressure on SC realtors.