The Real Cost of Owning Property in North Myrtle Beach
North Myrtle Beach is a real, conventional coastal real estate market -- a 22.31-square-mile city formed by the 1968 merger of four beach towns, with active listings tracked by every major platform and a genuine year-round and vacation-rental buyer base. That also means the cost of owning here is a real, multi-layered number: purchase price, Horry County and city property tax, wind/hail and flood insurance layered separately from a standard homeowners policy, and -- for many buyers here -- HOA or POA dues. This page lays out each layer with sourced figures where they exist and says plainly where a number could not be independently confirmed, rather than inventing a total.
Home Values: Two Platforms, Two Different Numbers
As of this research pass in August 2026, Zillow reports North Myrtle Beach's average home value at roughly $388,447, down 4.6% over the prior year, with homes going to pending in around 82 days on average. Redfin's own figures for the same market put the median sale price in a comparable but not identical range -- reported at points around $404,758 for a broader window and, in one more recent monthly snapshot, roughly $382,000 (down about 9.2% year over year), with homes sitting on market closer to 125 days.
Those two platforms rarely agree exactly, because they calculate differently -- average vs. median, different trailing windows, different treatment of condos vs. single-family homes -- and both numbers move month to month in a market that both sources describe as cooling somewhat from recent years. Neither figure should be treated as a quote for any specific property. A buyer targeting a specific neighborhood -- oceanfront Cherry Grove condo versus an inland Tilghman Estates custom home, for instance -- should ask a local agent for comparable closed sales in that exact micro-market, not a citywide average.
Property Tax: A Real County Rate, Plus the City's Own Confirmed Municipal Rate
Horry County's own reporting, covered by MyHorryNews, shows the county rolled its overall millage rate back from 56.2 mils to 52.1 mils for fiscal year 2025, a change state law required after the county saw real property value grow more than 11% and overall growth of roughly 7.8% -- a rollback is a legally mandated response to reassessment growth, not a discretionary tax cut. That is a real, sourced county-level figure, and it is layered with a separate municipal rate the City of North Myrtle Beach levies on top of it: per the city's own adopted budgets and MyHorryNews/WPDE reporting, the city held its municipal millage at 45 mils for several years, raised it to 48 mils for FY2025, rolled it back to 45 mils for FY2026 under the same state reassessment rule, and then raised it again to 50 mils for FY2027 -- a five-mil increase approved as part of the city's $190.2 million FY2027 budget. What this page does not do is add the county rate, the city rate, and the separate school-district millage together into one confirmed dollar-per-$1,000-of-value total for a specific North Myrtle Beach parcel, because the school-district portion was not independently confirmed for this build.
South Carolina also applies one of the more consequential rules in coastal real estate: owner-occupied primary residences are assessed at 4% of value for property tax purposes, while second homes, rental properties, and other non-owner-occupied residential property are assessed at 6% -- a difference that, at the same millage rate, works out to a 50% higher tax bill on the higher assessment ratio, and primary residences also qualify for an exemption from school operating taxes that non-primary properties do not receive. Because so much of North Myrtle Beach's housing stock is second-home or vacation-rental property, this 4%-versus-6% distinction is often a bigger swing factor in an actual tax bill than the headline millage rate itself. Confirm your own likely assessment ratio and the current combined city-plus-county millage directly with the Horry County Assessor's office before budgeting a tax figure.
Insurance: Three Separate Policies, Not One
Coastal Horry County property typically needs three separate insurance products, not one bundled homeowners policy. A standard homeowners (HO-3) policy covers fire, theft, liability, and most non-flood water damage. Wind and hail coverage, in a coastal market where standard carriers frequently decline or limit that peril, often runs through the South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association -- the state's insurer of last resort for wind and hail, created by state law in 1971 and expanded in 2007 -- when a standard carrier won't write it directly. Flood insurance is a fully separate third policy, required by federally backed mortgage lenders for any property in a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area (Zones A, AE, V, or VE), which describes much of oceanfront and near-inlet North Myrtle Beach.
This page does not state a current premium for any of the three, because rates vary enormously by elevation, construction type, distance from the water, and flood zone, and no reliable, address-independent figure exists to quote honestly. What can be said with confidence: budgeting for a single 'homeowners insurance' line item in this market, without separately pricing wind/hail and flood, is a common and expensive mistake. Get quotes for all three from a licensed local agent before making an offer, not after closing.
HOA and POA Dues: A Real Cost Layer, Not a Confirmed Number
Much of North Myrtle Beach's oceanfront and near-oceanfront inventory is condominium or planned-community product with a homeowners or property owners association attached -- Barefoot Resort's golf-course communities and numerous oceanfront condo towers in Cherry Grove, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, and Windy Hill all carry HOA or condo association dues covering building insurance on shared structures, elevator and amenity maintenance, landscaping, and often a reserve fund for major repairs after storm damage. This is a real, structurally significant cost layer for a large share of buyers in this market.
This page does not state a typical or average dues figure, because dues vary enormously by building age, amenity level, and whether building insurance is bundled into the association fee or carried separately by the unit owner -- and no reliable, current, market-wide figure was available for this build. Get the actual current dues schedule, any pending special assessments (particularly post-storm, since Hurricane Ian alone caused $13.1 million in documented city-wide property damage in 2022), and the association's reserve-fund status in writing before making an offer on any condo or HOA-governed property here.
Short-Term Rental Tax Load, If You Plan to Rent
If part of the purchase math involves vacation-rental income, remember that gross rental revenue is taxed before it reaches an owner's pocket. South Carolina applies a 2% state accommodations tax on top of standard state sales tax, and Horry County and North Myrtle Beach each layer additional local hospitality and accommodations tax on short-term stays, with the combined local-plus-state load reported by some tax-service providers in the range of 13% of gross rental proceeds -- though this page treats that combined figure as one industry source's summary rather than a confirmed, current, jurisdiction-specific number, since city-limit rates and unincorporated-county rates are documented as differing from each other.
Owners must also hold a current city business license to operate a short-term rental legally inside North Myrtle Beach, renewed annually, and the city has moved toward stricter accountability rules for rental managers in recent years, including a proposed 'Responsible Local Agent' ordinance requiring non-owner property managers to hold an active South Carolina Real Estate Commission brokerage or property-manager license. None of this is optional overhead to skip -- confirm the current combined tax rate and licensing requirements directly with the City of North Myrtle Beach's business license office and the South Carolina Department of Revenue before modeling rental income.
Putting the Real Cost Picture Together
The honest total cost of owning in North Myrtle Beach is purchase price, plus a property tax bill that depends heavily on whether the county classifies the property at the 4% owner-occupied rate or the 6% non-owner rate, plus separately priced homeowners, wind/hail, and flood insurance, plus HOA or condo dues on most oceanfront and planned-community product, plus -- if renting the property short-term -- a real, multi-layered accommodations tax burden and an annual business license. No single number on this page adds those layers together into one estimated monthly cost, because several of the inputs (the school-district millage portion, specific HOA dues, specific insurance premiums, and the exact combined rental tax rate) were not independently confirmed at the specificity a real budget requires -- even though the county's 52.1-mil rate and the city's own 50-mil FY2027 municipal rate are now both confirmed, separately, above.
Before making any purchase or investment decision in this market, get a parcel-specific tax estimate from the Horry County Assessor, actual current HOA or condo dues and reserve-fund documentation in writing, insurance quotes covering all three coverage types from a licensed local agent, and current short-term-rental tax and licensing requirements from the City of North Myrtle Beach. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, financial, or insurance advice.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Facts used: Zillow's and Redfin's own published home-value and median-sale-price figures for North Myrtle Beach as of this research pass in August 2026. Horry County's FY2025 millage rollback from 56.2 to 52.1 mils, per Horry County and MyHorryNews reporting. The City of North Myrtle Beach's own adopted budgets and MyHorryNews/WPDE reporting confirming the city's municipal millage history: 45 mils for several prior years, 48 mils for FY2025, a rollback to 45 mils for FY2026, and a five-mil increase to 50 mils for FY2027 as part of the city's $190.2 million FY2027 budget. South Carolina's 4% owner-occupied vs. 6% non-owner-occupied property tax assessment ratio and the primary-residence school-tax exemption, per multiple South Carolina real estate and county-assessor sources. The South Carolina Wind and Hail Underwriting Association's own site confirming its 1971 founding and 2007 expansion as coastal SC's wind/hail insurer of last resort. FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area designations (Zones A, AE, V, VE) and federal lender flood-insurance requirements, as summarized by multiple coastal real estate and insurance sources. Hurricane Ian's confirmed $13.1 million in 2022 North Myrtle Beach property damage, per city reporting covered by WMBF News and WBTW. South Carolina's 2% state accommodations tax and reported combined short-term-rental tax load, per Avalara MyLodgeTax and Horry County's own hospitality-fee materials, with city-vs-unincorporated-county rate differences noted by those same sources. North Myrtle Beach's short-term-rental business license requirement and proposed Responsible Local Agent ordinance, per city agenda materials and reporting on the ordinance covered by Booe Realty and Elliott Beach Realty. Not independently confirmed and explicitly not invented here: a combined county-plus-city-plus-school-district property tax mill rate for a specific North Myrtle Beach parcel; current HOA or condo association dues figures; current homeowners, wind/hail, or flood insurance premiums for any specific property; and the exact current combined short-term-rental tax rate distinguishing city limits from unincorporated Horry County. Confirm all figures directly with the Horry County Assessor's office, the City of North Myrtle Beach, a licensed South Carolina real estate agent and closing attorney, and a licensed insurance agent before making any purchase or investment decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, financial, or insurance advice.