Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
City-level Single-Family vs. Condo, market pressure signals, and 5-year trend. Source: Redfin.
Single-Family vs. Condo
Source: Redfin (property-type breakdown)Buyer vs. Seller Market Indicators
Latest month — RedfinInventory ÷ monthly sales. Below 3 = strong seller market; 3-6 balanced; above 6 = buyer market.
Median closing price ÷ original list price. Above 100% = homes routinely closing above asking.
Share of closed sales priced above asking. The single cleanest read on bidder competition.
What does your sqft target cost in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina?
$466/sqft median (Redfin)Estimate = (median $/sqft × your sqft) + bed/bath/lot adjustments. Bed and bath adjustments use Appraisal Institute / Fannie Mae standard rules of thumb (~$15K/extra bedroom, ~$20K/extra bathroom vs. a 3bd/2ba baseline; half-bath = half adj). Lot premium is a $1.50/sqft heuristic beyond a 6,000 sqft baseline — accuracy varies sharply by urban infill vs. acreage market. Quality, condition, year built, and HOA are not modeled here. For a deeper county-level hedonic AVM, see AVM Lite.
Rent + invest vs. buy + own — backtested
15-yr rolling history · S&P 500What if you'd started in a recent year? (most-recent 15yr window: 2011–2025)
| Window | Buy wealth | Buy gain | Rent wealth | Rent gain | Wealth delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2025 | $729K | $538K | $3.41M | $2.51M | $2.68M rent |
| 2010–2024 | $729K | $538K | $3.48M | $2.58M | $2.75M rent |
| 2009–2023 | $729K | $538K | $3.30M | $2.39M | $2.57M rent |
| 2008–2022 | $729K | $538K | $2.44M | $1.54M | $1.71M rent |
| 2007–2021 | $729K | $538K | $3.18M | $2.27M | $2.45M rent |
| 2006–2020 | $729K | $538K | $2.71M | $1.80M | $1.98M rent |
| 2005–2019 | $729K | $538K | $2.44M | $1.54M | $1.71M rent |
| 2004–2018 | $729K | $538K | $2.01M | $1.11M | $1.28M rent |
Educational tool, not investment or real-estate advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Backtests use actual annual total returns including dividends from S&P 500 (Damodaran (NYU Stern) annual total return (with dividends), 1957-present.).
Buyer model: 30-yr fixed mortgage, P&I + property tax + insurance + maintenance (1% of value/yr) + HOA. Selling cost = 6%. Investor model: down payment + annual cashflow surplus invested in the chosen index at that calendar year's actual return.
Tax model: pre-tax comparison. Toggle "after-tax mode" to apply MID, SALT, LTCG, and the Sec 121 capital-gains exclusion.
This calculator does not adjust for: PMI (assumed 20%+ down), differential transaction costs by state, lifestyle factors (commute, schools, kids), illiquidity / forced-sale risk, or insurance availability constraints (e.g., FL/CA wildfire). Consult a fiduciary advisor and tax professional before acting on any of this.
Cost-of-living escalation — South Carolina (7 categories)
7-yr trajectories · state-grain (no city-grain data published)Trajectories anchor each state's most recent published value to the corresponding national YoY pattern (electricity → EIA, natural gas → EIA, groceries → BLS CPI food-at-home, homeowners insurance → NAIC, healthcare → KFF Employer Health Benefits, auto insurance → BLS CPI motor vehicle insurance, childcare → Child Care Aware "Price of Care"). City-grain data is not published for any of these categories — Hilton Head Island inherits South Carolina's state-level series. Per-household costs vary by provider, plan, household size, and usage.
Who lives here
Census ACS 5-year (place-level)0.3% of housing was built before 1950 — older stock often means smaller bedrooms, deferred maintenance, and 1-bath layouts.
Market Pressure Signals
Derived from Redfin trendValue / Rent
state ZORI mean (city rent unavailable from public sources)City rent data isn't published in Zillow's public CSVs. We use the state-level ZORI mean as the rent reference. The state-level rent is a useful approximation for big metros within a state but can mislead in extreme outlier cities.
Trends
Up to 5 years of monthly dataMedian Sale Price
Active Inventory
Days on Market
State-level data: South Carolina statewide stats →
Verify any number on this page: data sources, formulas, and cross-references →