Blog: 15 Areas in Greenville, SC to find great rental properties


Realtor.com has named Greenville, South Carolina, as one of the top 10 housing markets positioned for growth in 2023. With an expected 11.4% increase in home sales and a predicted 5.7% rise in prices, Greenville is an attractive location for real estate investors.


The population growth and a strong job market have contributed to this position, making Greenville a hotspot for potential buyers. The area's value for rental property investment is also high, with rising home values and rent prices adding to the attraction.


Key takeaways

Greenville is home to nearly 71,000 residents in the city and almost 1.5 million in the metropolitan area. Home values in metropolitan Greenville have increased by 18.6% over the past year, while rent prices have grown by 21% year over year. Neighborhoods in Greenville with more renters than homeowners include Anderson, Spartanburg, and the city of Greenville.


Why invest in Greenville?

Population growth in Greenville and most of the 10-county upstate South Carolina region was among the largest in the state, with the influx of new residents creating a shortage of available housing.


As The Post and Courier Greenville reports, Greenville added more new residents than almost any other county in the state since 2010, while Spartanburg County also saw double-digit population growth.


Population growth in Greenville is also helping to keep the job market robust. Unemployment is down to just 3.2%, with job sectors such as manufacturing, trade and transportation, and financial activities showing the most growth (Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2022).


Rising home values in Greenville are also helping to keep the demand for rental property strong. Zillow reports the typical value of a middle-price -ier home increased by 18.6% year over year, while monthly rents for 3-bedroom properties grew by 21% over the past year, according to Zumper.


Greenville, South Carolina, consists of 2 dozen different neighborhoods, 10 counties, and about 100 cities and towns in the metropolitan area.


Here are 15 areas in Greenville to consider for investment properties, based on data from:

  • Niche.com (population, median rent, percentage of renter-occupied households, and median household income)
  • Redfin (median sales price, change in sales price, and days on market)

Greenville

Greenville has more renters than homeowners, making the city a good place to consider for buying investment property. Greenville is the sixth-largest city in South Carolina, has an urban-suburban feel, and is located midway between Charlotte and Atlanta:

  • Population: 70,720
  • Median sale price: $318,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 21.3%
  • Days on market: 41
  • Median rent: $984
  • Renter-occupied households: 56%
  • Median household income: $56,609
  • ZIP codes: 29601, 29604, 29609, 29615

Spartanburg

Spartanburg is another city in the Greenville metropolitan area with more renters than homeowners. Located 30 miles northeast of Greenville via I-85, Spartanburg has a dense suburban feel and is ranked as one of the best places to live in Spartanburg County by Niche.com:

  • Population: 37,424
  • Median sale price: $197,500
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 2.0%
  • Days on market: 28
  • Median rent: $810
  • Renter-occupied households: 54%
  • Median household income: $40,053
  • ZIP codes: 29301, 29304, 29307, 29319

Anderson

Located 30 miles southwest of Greenville, the city of Anderson also has more residents who rent their homes than own. Anderson is home to AnMed Health Medical Center and Anderson University and has a dense suburban feel:

  • Population: 27,289
  • Median sale price: $220,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 10.4%
  • Days on market: 34
  • Median rent: $761
  • Renter-occupied households: 53%
  • Median household income: $33,351
  • ZIP codes: 29621, 29622, 29624, 29625

Greenwood

Greenwood is midway between Greenville and Augusta and is another popular city for renters. Greenwood has a sparse suburban feel, good options for dining and entertainment, and more renters than homeowners:

  • Population: 23,269
  • Median sale price: $240,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): -10.5%
  • Days on market: 39
  • Median rent: $719
  • Renter-occupied households: 53%
  • Median household income: $33,699
  • ZIP codes: 29646, 29647, 29648, 29649

Greer

Greer is home to the BMW manufacturing plant and the North American Headquarters for Michelin North America. Greer is 15 miles northeast of Greenville, near the suburbs of Taylors and Wade Hampton, and has a dense suburban feel:

  • Population: 30,854
  • Median sale price: $301,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 17.5%
  • Days on market: 41
  • Median rent: $917
  • Renter-occupied households: 38%
  • Median household income: $61,744
  • ZIP codes: 29365, 29651, 29652, 29687

Mauldin

Mauldin is located near the intersection of I-385 and I-85, about 12 miles southeast of Greenville. Mauldin is ranked among the best suburbs to live in the Greenville area by Niche.com and has seen home prices rapidly rise over the past year:

  • Population: 25,217
  • Median sale price: $305,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 42.1%
  • Days on market: 22
  • Median rent: $1,002
  • Renter-occupied households: 30%
  • Median household income: $67,860
  • ZIP codes: 29607, 29662, 29681

Easley

Niche.com ranks Easley as one of the best places to live in Pickens County. The city has a sparse suburban feel with lots of parks, and is home to Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital:

  • Population: 20,923
  • Median sale price: $259,495
  • Change in sales price (year over year): -0.4%
  • Days on market: 38
  • Median rent: $762
  • Renter-occupied households: 36%
  • Median household income: $52,414
  • ZIP codes: 29640, 29641, 29642

Simpsonville

Simpsonville is 15 miles southeast of Greenville, near the intersection of I-185 and I-385. The city has a sparse suburban feel with a lot of parks nearby:

  • Population: 22,234
  • Median sale price: $345,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 13.0%
  • Days on market: 51
  • Median rent: $1,059
  • Renter-occupied households: 25%
  • Median household income: $71,990
  • ZIP codes: 29680, 29681

Taylors

The suburb of Taylors is 9 miles northeast of Greenville, near the cities of Wade Hampton and Greer. Taylors is a short distance from 2 Greenville Technical Colleges and Bob Jones University, and has a sparse suburban feel, with a lot of restaurants and parks:

  • Population: 22,230
  • Median sale price: $299,500
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 28.8%
  • Days on market: 41
  • Median rent: $917
  • Renter-occupied households: 27%
  • Median household income: $61,667
  • ZIP codes: 29609, 29650, 29687

Wade Hampton

Wade Hampton is ranked as the second-best place to live in Greenville County by Niche.com. Located 6 miles northeast of Greenville, Wade Hampton has a dense suburban feel and a lot of restaurants and parks:

  • Population: 20,906
  • Median sale price: $291,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 26.5%
  • Days on market: 78
  • Median rent: $907
  • Renter-occupied households: 37%
  • Median household income: $54,331
  • ZIP codes: 29609, 29615, 29687

Clemson

Clemson is home to Clemson University, a leading upstate South Carolina public research institution. Located 35 miles southwest of Greenville, Clemson has a dense suburban feel and more renters than homeowners:

  • Population: 16,463
  • Median sale price: $325,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 13.0%
  • Days on market: 28
  • Median rent: $928
  • Renter-occupied households: 58%
  • Median household income: $43,568
  • ZIP code: 29631

Gaffney

Known as the “Peach Capital of South Carolina,” the small city of Gaffney is located 50 miles northeast of Greenville via I-85. Gaffney has a sparse suburban feel, and nearly half of residents rent their homes:

  • Population: 12,582
  • Median sale price: $240,000
  • Change in sales price (year over year): -17.0%
  • Days on market: 58
  • Median rent: $689
  • Renter-occupied households: 48%
  • Median household income: $31,047
  • ZIP codes: 29340, 29341, 29342

Berea

Berea is 5 miles northwest of Greenville, near Furman University and the Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Berea has a sparse suburban feel, and nearly half of residents rent their homes:

  • Population: 14,652
  • Median sale price: $216,250
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 20.1%
  • Days on market: 49
  • Median rent: $774
  • Renter-occupied households: 44%
  • Median household income: $37,125
  • ZIP codes: 29611, 29617

Five Forks

Five Forks is one of the most affluent suburbs of Greenville and is ranked as the best place to live in the Greenville area by Niche.com. Located 12 miles southeast of Greenville, Five Forks has a rural feel, with a lot of parks and nearby dining and entertainment options:

  • Population: 17,844
  • Median sale price: $409,132
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 3.3%
  • Days on market: 33
  • Median rent: $1,635
  • Renter-occupied households: 10%
  • Median household income: $114,049
  • ZIP code: 29681

Gantt

Gantt is 7 miles south of Greenville, near Greenville Memorial Hospital and Donaldson Center Airport. The city has a sparse suburban feel, a lot of restaurants and parks, and a large proportion of renters:

  • Population: 15,138
  • Median sale price: $215,500
  • Change in sales price (year over year): 18.9%
  • Days on market: 39
  • Median rent: $809
  • Renter-occupied households: 44%
  • Median household income: $38,341
  • ZIP codes: 29605, 29673

Building to Hold vs Building to Sell

By Christian O'Neal • July 31, 2025
Why Building and Holding Real Estate for the Long- Term Delivers Superior, Tax-Efficient Yield 

Rent Control - Does it Work?

By Christian O'Neal • July 31, 2025
Rent Control: A Well-Intentioned Policy That Misses the Mark In the debate over affordable housing, few policies stir as much emotion—or controversy—as rent control. Advocates see it as a way to shield tenants from rising rents. Critics argue it does more harm than good. When you examine the economic evidence and real- world outcomes, the conclusion becomes clear: rent control is a deeply flawed solution to a real problem. What Is Rent Control? Rent control is a policy that limits how much landlords can increase rent, either through caps tied to inflation or fixed annual percentages. On paper, it sounds compassionate: protect renters from displacement and make cities more affordable. But in practice, rent control reduces the supply of available housing, discourages new development, and often hurts the very people it's meant to help. Why Rent Control Backfires 1. It Discourages New Construction Developers are less likely to build in markets where future rent growth—and thus returns—are capped. Why take the risk of developing multifamily housing in a city where your upside is limited and your operating environment is politicized? 2. It Drives Property Owners Out of the Market Faced with strict rent regulations, landlords may convert rental units to condos or remove them from the market altogether. Fewer units mean more scarcity, which ultimately drives prices higher for everyone else. 3. It Distorts Housing Allocation Rent control encourages long-term tenants to stay in apartments they might otherwise outgrow or vacate. This locks up valuable housing stock and prevents more dynamic turnover, often freezing lower-cost units in place for higher-income tenants. 4. It Creates a Two-Tiered Market Markets with rent control often develop into two separate ecosystems: regulated apartments that are underpriced and hard to find, and unregulated units with inflated prices to compensate for suppressed supply. The California–New York Split: A Tale of Two Approaches Historically, California and New York have been peers in over-regulating rental housing. But recently, they’ve taken different paths: California's Recent Steps Forward:  Voters rejected rent control expansion (Prop 21 and earlier Prop 10)  Streamlined approvals and reduced CEQA abuse to promote new development New York's Recent Moves Backward:  Passed “Good Cause Eviction” law—effectively rent control in disguise  Political calls for rent freezes and demonization of landlords If you’re an open-minded apartment developer evaluating both markets today, California’s message is increasingly: We need you. New York’s? Not so much. To be fair, both are still difficult places to build housing, and cities like Los Angeles and Berkeley remain deeply anti-development. But California has shown progress by recognizing that you can’t claim to be pro-housing while simultaneously vilifying those who create and operate it. A Misalignment of Incentives A core problem with rent control is that it treats housing supply as fixed and ignores the private sector's role in expanding it. If developers and operators are stripped of potential upside—and burdened with unpredictable political risk—they simply stop building. Even well-intentioned pro-development plans (like NYC’s "City oare undermined when operators believe they’ll be punished after delivery through hostile regulation or public scorn. You can't be truly pro-development unless you're also pro-operator. Policies that foster collaboration, not scapegoating, create the conditions for long-term affordability. The Real Way Forward Instead of imposing artificial caps, cities should focus on increasing housing supply through zoning reform, expedited approvals, and public-private partnerships. The more units that come online, the more pricing power shifts away from landlords and toward tenants—naturally. Rent control is seductive in its simplicity but devastating in its consequences. It’s a policy that tries to solve a supply problem with demand-side restrictions—and in doing so, it often makes things worse. At Alpha Equity Group, we believe that smart, sustainable development is the key to housing affordability. And that requires sound economics, not political theater.

Into the Future – Making Sense of Rates in a World That Doesn’t

By Christian O'Neal • June 24, 2025
In the world of capital markets, clarity is often fleeting — and today, it feels downright elusive. The Federal Reserve’s latest June dot plot offered little in the way of certainty. While the median projection sees the Federal Funds Rate in the mid-3% range by the end of 2026 , the dispersion among voting members is striking. Seven members predict no rate cuts in 2024 , reflecting just how divided the committee remains in the face of conflicting data. This latest update marks a 25-50 basis point shift downward from May , but the overarching theme is one of caution, not conviction. That sentiment is mirrored in the economic projections. Core PCE inflation , the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, is now expected to end 2025 at 3.0% , 30 basis points higher than earlier forecasts. Meanwhile, real GDP is forecast to slow from 2.3% in Q4 2024 to just 1.7% in 2025 — another sign that the lagged effects of monetary policy are expected to begin to show. At the same time, the Fed’s balance sheet has shrunk dramatically, from a peak of $9 trillion in April 2022 to just $2.3 trillion today . That quantitative tightening, coupled with a lack of consistent inflation suppression, leaves both equity and bond markets vulnerable to further volatility. This all feeds into an uncomfortable truth: rates are likely to remain higher for longer , and the market is struggling to price that reality. The VIX index , a 30-day forward-looking gauge of volatility in equities, is trending higher. When volatility rises even as indices fall, credit spreads widen , liquidity tightens, and financing risk surges. For commercial real estate investors , this has enormous implications. As we explored in our recent article on CRE Price Discovery , the market remains in flux. The bid-ask spread in real estate is still somewhat wide, and most transaction activity today is being driven by maturing debt — not opportunistic investments banking on future growth. This means valuations are being forced downward, especially for assets that were purchased or refinanced at ultra-low rates in 2021–2022. Consumer behavior is also in transition. Household formation is slowing, and personal savings rates are slowly ticking up although they are significantly down from longer term averages – which could reflect folks bracing for economic turbulence. U.S. household formation currently stands at 1.058 million, down 7.68% from last month’s 1.146 million and down 47.73% from 2.024 million a year ago. Looking globally, demand for U.S. Treasuries remains a critical economic indicator that has trickling effects on the economy . A strong bid-to-cover ratio — like the 2.67x seen at the June 11th 10-Year Treasury auction , with nearly 88% of bids from foreign banks — is encouraging. It suggests continued faith in U.S. fiscal credibility and currency strength despite market apprehensions in our strength, such as the US credit rating being downgraded by Moody’s. This equilibrium is rather fragile. Should the U.S. continue to run massive budget deficits with a debt-to-GDP ratio north of 120% , investors may begin to demand higher yields — or worse, seek refuge in alternative stores of value. Gold is one such store. The World Gold Council recently reported that 76% of central banks expect to increase their gold holdings over the next five years , up from 69% in 2023. This flight to real assets reflects growing concern about the long-term value of fiat currencies — and a desire to hedge against systemic risk. The Bottom Line  Rates are likely to remain high through 2025 and into 2026 Inflation remains persistent but progress has been unclear Growth is slowing, and volatility is rising Real estate is repricing around debt maturity events Global capital is shifting cautiously, looking for safety At Alpha Equity Group, we believe this is a time for discipline, not risk-taking. We’re staying patient, watching the data, and investing defensively — focusing on secured debt positions and capital preservation. While others chase uncertain upside, we’re building long-term value through downside protection while we wait out the convergence of dozens of factors completely outside our control.
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