Rachel WavraSilver Creek Real Estate Group
Rachel WavraSilver Creek Real Estate Group
Last issue's median was set by a handful of luxury closings on very few sales. This quarter told a different story: more homes changed hands, and the median came back down to earth as the mix shifted toward the middle of the market. That's the more useful number to watch.
Highlands, NC, month ending July 2026, year over year. Redfin Compete Score 24 of 100, “not very competitive.” Cashiers most recently reported a $775,000 median, flat year over year, at $638 per square foot (Redfin, October 2025 — the most recent period reported for that market). Source: Redfin.
— RachelNineteen. That's how many homes sold in Highlands last quarter, five more than the quarter before it, and it's the number I'd point to before the 29% drop in the median sitting above it.
When more houses trade, the median naturally moves toward the middle of the market, and that's exactly what happened here. Last issue's $1.15 million median came from a small handful of closings at the top. This issue's $670K reflects nineteen actual transactions, a much more representative read of where Highlands homes are really trading.
Buyers still have some room: homes are closing about 5% below asking on average, and sale-to-list eased back slightly to 94.8% from last quarter's 96.2%. That's not sellers losing their grip, it's a market cooling a touch off an unusually hot spring.
The mistake I'm watching people make right now is reading either quarter's median as “the market.” Look at the volume and the sale-to-list ratio together. That's where the real story is.
| Area | Closings | Median | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | 19 | $669,665 | -29.4% |
| Cashiers | — | $775,000 | 0.0% |
| Scaly Mountain | — | — | — |
| Sapphire Valley | — | — | — |
| Lake Glenville | — | — | — |
| Lake Toxaway | — | — | — |
Highlands and Cashiers figures sourced from Redfin (July 2026 and October 2025 reporting periods, respectively). Remaining areas will populate once the Highlands-Cashiers MLS feed is connected.
| Club | Closings | Median | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coming next issue | — | — | — |
Whether to name specific clubs alongside their sale prices is Rachel's call to make deliberately, some memberships prefer discretion here, so this section will populate once that's settled.
| Category | Closings | Median | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land / homesites | — | — | — |
| Condo / townhome | — | — | — |
| Commercial | — | — | — |
Awaiting the MLS feed.
Closings in Highlands rose 8.0% year over year while the median fell 29.4%. That's close to the opposite of last quarter's story, when fewer sales at the top pulled the median up. This time more homes changed hands and the mix leaned toward the middle of the market. More buyers closing is the healthier number here, not the median.
Sale-to-list sits at 94.8%, up 1.5 points from a year ago even though it's eased back from 96.2% last quarter. The typical Highlands home is still closing about 5% under asking. Buyers have room, just not quite as much as they did a few months ago.
Homes are averaging 49 days on market, up from 34 last quarter but nowhere near the 234-day stretch buyers saw a year ago. The spring pickup in speed has eased slightly heading into summer, but this is still a market that moves.
Each issue will carry an update on permits filed, road and utility work, club capital projects, and restaurant or retail openings that bear on Plateau values, sourced from county permit filings and town meeting minutes, named and dated before it runs. Nothing to report yet for this first issue.
Bowery Road is the kind of address that doesn't come up often and doesn't stay long when it does. At $1.7 million it sits right in the band that went quiet this quarter, which is precisely why it deserves attention. I picked this one because it's the house I'd tell a friend to look at.
See the Full Listing →That's a fifteen-minute conversation, and I'm happy to have it with no expectation attached. The median won't tell you what your home is worth. Three good comparables and an honest walk-through will.
Start the ConversationMarket figures are reported as of the dates shown and are not a valuation of any individual property. Sources for this issue: Redfin's Highlands, NC housing market report (month ending July 2026) and Cashiers, NC housing market report (October 2025); Rachel's active listings on ncliving.com. Figures awaiting the Highlands-Cashiers MLS feed are marked accordingly and will be added once available.