Horry County, SC

Horry County is a split underwriting case: the rental screen is positive, but softer listing evidence and hurricane exposure can change carrying costs. Income-focused buyers should investigate insurance, storm resilience, and rent durability; appreciation-dependent buyers should be cautious. Zillow is labeled 2026-06, while FHFA's repeat-transaction HPI is labeled 2025. FHFA points upward over both reported horizons, but it is an index, not a home value, and cannot be blended with Zillow's observation.

Zillow's median home value is $320,250, down 0.64%, while median asking rent is $1,662 per month, up 0.81%. The supplied gross yield is 6.23% before vacancy and operating, financing, insurance, or capital costs. HUD's two-bedroom FMR is $1,465, a payment standard rather than market rent; a calculation from the supplied ratio places asking rent 13.4% above FMR, without establishing achievable rent. The 0.33% effective property-tax rate adds carrying cost, but omits insurance and storm deductibles.

Demand evidence is supportive but not uniform. Tax-return households produced net migration of 5,933; incoming movers averaged $82,989 of AGI, with a supplied $27,782 gap over outflow movers. QCEW recorded 146,055 annual average covered jobs located in the county; covered wages also increased, and leisure and hospitality was the largest disclosed private supersector. This is workplace employment, not resident employment. Separately, Realtor.com shows softer asking prices, more active listings, 77 median days on market, and 20.6% of listings with reductions. These are MLS supply and concession signals, not closed prices or proof of demand. Investor participation was 14.36% of 10,044 total purchases, useful for assessing competition but not a substitute for comps.

Modeled climate loss is 0.38% of building value per year, with hurricane dominant; it is not a property-specific premium, deductible, or storm-loss estimate. Next checks are parcel-level flood and wind exposure, insurance quotes and renewal terms, lease-level rent and vacancy, operating expenses, condition, and closed-sale comparables. Without them, an underwriter cannot convert gross yield to net cash flow or test asking-rent collection. County aggregates also do not establish property condition or metro representativeness.