Columbia, SC Real Estate Brief

Today: Mortgage spreads are keeping rates under 7% nationally at 6.74%, giving Columbia buyers a window that would have closed months ago in prior years. JP Morgan Chase announced a $750 billion housing investment targeting 1 million affordable units nationwide, a signal that institutional capital sees housing supply as a generational bet.

Market Pulse

Mortgage spreads holding rates below 7%, buying Columbia's market time. The 10-year yield is near yearly highs driven by the Iran conflict and hawkish Fed commentary, but mortgage spreads at 2.01% are keeping rates at 6.74%, well below the 7.84% they would be at 2023 spread levels. For Richland County agents: this is the rate environment keeping your pipeline alive. National weekly pending sales ticked up year-over-year (67,026 vs. 66,347 in 2025), and total pendings are at 381,302 vs. 374,025 a year ago, but the trend is cooling. HousingWire's data shows sales consistently slow once rates pass 6.64%, and we are above that threshold now.

• Action: Price listings aggressively while rates hold under 7%. If the Iran situation escalates further and pushes the 10-year yield higher, spreads alone will not be enough to keep rates in the 6s. Buyer consultations this week should stress the spread advantage: today's 6.74% rate is a gift relative to where yields would put us historically.
• Fed hawks are talking rate hikes, not cuts. Do not build rate relief into your Q4 projections.
• Source: HousingWire

Commercial & Investment

JP Morgan commits $750 billion to housing over nine years. The bank is targeting 1 million affordable housing units, 500,000 customer assists, and 200,000 first-time buyers through expanded debt, equity, and grant financing. This comes as national multifamily construction starts hit their lowest level since 2011 in Q1 2026. Separately, BlackRock closed a $1.63 billion acquisition of 3,600+ multifamily units in Southern California, the largest U.S. multifamily sale in over two years, signaling institutional capital is rotating back into rental housing at scale.

• Action for Columbia investors: Institutional money flowing into affordable housing and multifamily means more competition for workforce-housing deals in secondary markets like Columbia. If you are assembling land for multifamily along the Broad River Road corridor or near Fort Jackson, expect cap rate (annual net operating income divided by purchase price) compression as institutional buyers move down-market. Developers should watch for JP Morgan financing programs that could subsidize affordable projects in Richland and Lexington counties.
• Starwood Property Trust's 95% net income drop is a cautionary note: not all RE-adjacent plays are performing. Stick to fundamentals in the Midlands.
• Source: Commercial Observer

Articles on Tulsa commercial permits, Dubai AI permitting systems, and Canadian housing starts were reviewed and excluded as not actionable for the Columbia market.