From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE — During this year’s first quarter, the Asheville-area housing market has seen prices increase within the city limits, but decrease in adjoining Buncombe County, the Asheville Citizen Times reported on April 21.

“Exact impacts on the local housing market from tariffs aren’t likely to be understood for a few months, experts say,” the ACT added. “Nearly 9,000 were unemployed in Buncombe County, according to an N.C. Department of Commerce February 2025 report.”

Further, the newspaper noted, “The Asheville-area housing market has continued to reflect Western North Carolina’s complex economic recovery as unemployment remains high. Lingering impacts from Tropical Storm Helene indicate a ‘transitionary period’ for housing in Buncombe County and within city limits.”

Compared to the median price of a home in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, home sale prices within Asheville city limits increased from $488,000 to $507,000, according to real estate market reports compiled by the Asheville-based Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty. 

In Buncombe County the sales price average was downward, decreasing from $477,000 to $450,000. 

“First-quarter WNC housing markets often reflect the lowest prices before activity increases in the spring, reports indicate,” the ACT stated. But slight market shifts came as the region’s economy went into a “choppy” period of recovery, local experts recently told the newspaper. 

“Since December, Buncombe County has found itself in a slump, with the county-level unemployment rate holding steady between 6 percent to 6.8 percent, the ACT noted, adding that “the latest estimates from the N.C. Department of Commerce set unemployment in Buncombe County at 6.2 percent in February — roughly 106 percent higher than the same month in 2024.”

While nearly 9,000 people remain unemployed in Buncombe County, the housing market has been somewhat favorable for those who can afford to purchase housing, said Mike Figura, owner of Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty. Some buyers were already constrained by high costs.

At the beginning of 2025, 30 percent of all households in Buncombe County were reported to be cost-burdened — meaning they spend more than 30 percent of household income on housing cost — according to the North Carolina Housing Coalition. That includes 53 percent of renters, around 17,800 households, and 19 percent of homeowners, around 12,304 households.

During the first three months of 2025, the housing market has mainly seen activity from out-of-towners, retirees, local investors and some middle income locals who might have been “locked out” of the housing market in 2024, Figura said. Slowly, the market might be becoming more balanced after years of being in “seller’s market” territory, meaning higher demand than supply.

“We think that this is a temporary blip and a good time to take advantage of lower pricing,” Figura said, noting that price discrepancies between the county and city likely reflect that residential areas of Buncombe County were more heavily impacted than residential areas of the city of Asheville.

“Parts of the city that were really majorly damaged were mostly commercial areas,” Figura said. Some areas of the city still saw major impacts from high winds and downed trees. While disruption from Helene lingers, more could be on the way.