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South Carolina new construction report — Q1 2026

The bottom line

South Carolina's residential permit volume is up 16% quarter-on-quarter — a strong signal of demand acceleration. Trade contractors and suppliers serving this state should expect builder accounts to scale upward in the next 12 months. The state's top markets are visibly heating up.

Top movers this quarter

The South Carolina counties with the biggest quarter-on-quarter permit-volume change. Click any county for the full local market dashboard.

1. Horry County: 1,627 permits this quarter (+302 vs 1,325 prior quarter).
2. Spartanburg County: 1,171 permits this quarter (+262 vs 909 prior quarter).
3. Berkeley County: 581 permits this quarter (+184 vs 397 prior quarter).
4. Lexington County: 545 permits this quarter (+167 vs 378 prior quarter).
5. Laurens County: 318 permits this quarter (+141 vs 177 prior quarter).
6. York County: 623 permits this quarter (+137 vs 486 prior quarter).

Most-active builders

Licensed home builders in South Carolina ranked by Q1 2026 permit count. Click any name for the builder's full profile, permit history, and county footprint.

Per-permit builder attribution for South Carolina is limited this quarter. Per-permit feeds outside Florida are added quarterly — South Carolina will deepen as we add county portals.

What this means for trade operators

If you're an LBM operator, roofing contractor, HVAC company, plumber, concrete crew, or any trade serving South Carolina's new single-family construction market, this quarter's data points to a few practical actions:

• If you're not actively quoting the top 6 builders listed above, that's the call list for this week.
• If your service area covers any of the top-mover counties, you have leverage right now — builders there are scaling and looking for capacity.
• If you're considering expansion into South Carolina, the South Carolina dashboard has all high-volume counties scored against the trade you select. Drive-time analysis from your existing yard tells you which counties are reachable today.

This report is automatically refreshed every quarter from Census Bureau Building Permits Survey data plus county public records. The methodology is documented in our Census BPS data explainer.