Georgetown County

Georgetown County sits at a gross rent multiplier that translates to a 0.556% rent-to-price ratio, which puts it squarely in appreciation territory rather than cash-flow territory. The cap rate at 3.61% is thin, and the standard leveraged underwrite confirms the problem: at a $387,236 purchase price with 20% down and a 6.85% rate, the monthly mortgage alone runs $2,030 against $1,793 in median rent. Before a single expense, you're already underwater, and when operating costs are factored in the model produces negative $864 per month in cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of negative 11.64%. Home price appreciation over the past year was essentially flat at 0.1%, so the investor betting on near-term price gains to bail out a losing carry position is taking on real risk without a clear catalyst in the data. The affordability index of 47 signals the market is stretched relative to local incomes, which limits rent growth headroom and narrows the buyer pool if you need to exit.

This market does not suit a cash-flow buyer at today's prices and interest rates. The numbers are unambiguous on that. An appreciation-oriented buyer could make a case, but only with conviction that coastal South Carolina demand and constrained coastal supply will drive prices meaningfully higher over a five-to-ten year hold, and that thesis requires patience alongside substantial monthly negative carry. The investor profile best positioned here is the value-add operator with access to off-market or distressed deals well below the $387,000 median, since any durable cash-flow story in this market requires acquiring below replacement cost or finding properties with rents that are provably below market, then closing the gap. At full retail the numbers don't pencil for a conventional buy-and-hold.

Georgetown County's economic context matters for thinking about rental demand durability. The county's population of roughly 63,600 and its position on the South Carolina coast near Pawleys Island and the Grand Strand tourism corridor support seasonal and second-home demand, but the data does not include employer anchor information, so job-market depth and employment concentration risk cannot be quantified here. What the affordability index of 47 does suggest is that a meaningful portion of the local workforce is priced out of ownership, which provides a structural renter cohort. However, thin affordability also means renters face budget pressure, so aggressive rent increases carry more turnover risk than in markets where rents represent a smaller share of household income.

Property tax is a genuine tailwind in Georgetown. The state-average effective rate is 0.57%, flagged as low, and on a $387,236 asset that produces approximately $2,207 in annual property tax, or $184 per month. Combined with the insurance estimate of $1,317 annually ($110 per month), total monthly tax and insurance runs $294. That is a meaningful number but not an unusually punishing one given the asset price. The low tax rate is a real line-item advantage, keeping the monthly carry burden lower than it would be in higher-tax coastal markets. The honest caveat from the source data applies: this is a state-average estimate using Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual Georgetown County or township-level rates may differ, so verify the specific parcel rate before closing.

The primary risk here is concentration in a single coastal county with a small population base. At 63,594 residents, the rental demand pool is shallow, and any softening in migration or remote-work relocation trends that have supported coastal South Carolina over the past several years could compress both rents and prices simultaneously. Regulatory and demographic risk data are not available in this dataset, so no further claims can be made on those dimensions.

Against its neighbors, Georgetown has a specific and instructive profile. Horry County, which anchors the Myrtle Beach metro, offers a rent-to-price ratio of 0.654%, meaningfully better than Georgetown's 0.556%, at a lower median price of $313,508 and comparable rent of $1,709. For a cash-flow-oriented investor choosing between these two coastal South Carolina markets, Horry wins on the numbers with a larger population base and a more established short-term and long-term rental market. Dorchester County shows a rent-to-price of 0.576%, slightly better than Georgetown and at a lower $343,638 median, with an overall score of 53 versus Georgetown's 51. Williamsburg and Marion counties show dramatically lower price points at $133,000 to $146,000, but without rent data in this dataset a full comparison cannot be made. Choose Georgetown over its neighbors when the investment thesis is specifically coastal South Carolina land and housing scarcity, not when the goal is maximizing rental yield, where Horry or Dorchester both offer more favorable entry math.