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Hammock Coast STR Market Report: Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island & Litchfield Demand Trends

Pawleys Island, South Carolina

The Hammock Coast is not Myrtle Beach — and investors who underwrite Georgetown County's Waccamaw Neck with Horry County condo comps set themselves up for a regulatory surprise and a revenue miss. Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, and Litchfield Beach trade Myrtle's 8,400-listing commodity volume for lower-density, higher-ADR, higher-character product, where the buyer's real question is whether the premium experience and pricing power justify thinner data, tighter rules, and HOA constraints that platform dashboards never responsibly surface. AirROI's June 2025–May 2026 trailing window shows Murrells Inlet at approximately 430 active listings, $41,953 average annual revenue, 39.8% availability-adjusted occupancy, and $408 ADR; Pawleys Island at 415 listings, $28,392 average revenue, 35.2% occupancy, and $379 ADR; and Litchfield Beach at 156 listings, $28,182 average revenue, 28.8% occupancy, and $439 ADR — the highest ADR in the Hammock Coast survey.


That positioning sits within a tourism economy that bucked the softness at the Grand Strand in 2025. Georgetown County accommodations-tax collections rose 7.4% year-over-year in the June 2024–May 2025 window, while Myrtle Beach fell 1.4% in the same period; July 2025 STR occupancy on the Waccamaw Neck hit 81% with 1,635 occupied units. The Hammock Coast draws multi-generational, decades-loyal repeat travelers — grandparents, children, and grandchildren returning to the same creek cottage or gated beach house — not the one-week transient volume that defines the boardwalk corridor twenty minutes north. Brookgreen Gardens, Huntington Beach State Park, championship golf at Caledonia and True Blue, and the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk anchor demand that platform averages flatten into a single misleading number. This report decodes Hammock Coast STR performance sub-market by sub-market, explains the regulatory risk landscape that is the single biggest variable in an investment decision here, and gives hosts and buyers an honest 2026/2027 operating posture for a premium, data-thin, regulation-sensitive corridor.


The Hammock Coast STR Landscape by the Numbers

AirROI is the primary data spine for this report: entire active market, June 2025–May 2026 trailing window, availability-adjusted occupancy in the high-20s to low-40s across Hammock Coast towns. AirDNA and Airbtics report higher booked-listing occupancy on different methodologies — both figures are directionally correct for different underwriting questions. Lead with revenue per listing, name the source on every investor-facing summary, and never blend Murrells Inlet marshfront product with Litchfield gated-community ADR without stating the product split.

Sub-market

Active listings

Occupancy (avail.-adj.)

ADR

RevPAR

Avg ann. rev/listing

YoY rev

YoY supply

Peak month

Murrells Inlet

~430

39.8% (AirROI) / 56% (AirDNA)

$408 / $393

$173

$41,953

+31.6%

+70.0%

July

Pawleys Island

~415

35.2% (AirROI) / 54% (AirDNA)

$379 / $442

$123

$28,392

+17.4%

+79.7%

July

Litchfield Beach

~156

28.8% (AirROI)

$439

$130

$28,182

+24.7%

+9.1%

July

*Source: AirROI Jun 2025–May 2026; AirDNA MarketMinder. Granular town-level coverage is thin.


Three Hammock Coast themes emerge from the matrix. First, ADR runs well above Myrtle Beach proper ($251 AirROI) across every sub-market — Murrells Inlet at $408, Pawleys at $379–$442 depending on the provider, and Litchfield at $439 — confirming the premium-tier thesis. Second, occupancy is lower and seasonality sharper than the Grand Strand average, especially at Litchfield (28.8% annual occupancy with owners holding off-season rates rather than discounting). Third, supply growth is bifurcated: Litchfield grew only 9.1% year-over-year while Murrells Inlet surged 70.0% and Pawleys 79.7% — the oversupply story is real in the inlet and Pawleys corridors but materially milder in Litchfield's gated inventory.


Cross-platform triangulation matters for underwriting. AirDNA reports Murrells Inlet at 1,949 active rentals and $35,800 annual revenue with 56% occupancy — a broader market definition that includes the full Murrells Inlet area beyond AirROI's 430-listing town pull. Pawleys Island AirDNA shows 1,581 listings at a $442 ADR; most of that inventory sits on unincorporated mainland and Litchfield-adjacent parcels, not on the incorporated barrier island, where STR rules are contested. Present Pawleys revenue as a range between AirROI's $28,392 portfolio average and Airbtics' higher median figures for actively-rented units — and never cite a single number without naming the denominator.


Sub-Market Profiles: Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island & Litchfield

Murrells Inlet fits operators with marshfront and inlet-lifestyle products who can merchandise the Seafood Capital of South Carolina brand. The market is house-dominant (62.3% houses on AirROI), 3-bedroom-plus-skewed (62.1% have 3BR+), with a 58.8% Superhost share and a 4.85/5 average guest rating — signals of a mature, experience-driven host base. Demand drivers are the half-mile MarshWalk boardwalk of waterfront seafood restaurants and live music, deep-sea and inshore fishing charters, kayaking the salt marsh, and proximity to Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park. July peak reaches approximately $7,928 in monthly revenue at 58.1% occupancy and $439 ADR, versus the January trough near $2,855 at 27.1% occupancy. Choose Murrells Inlet when your property's strongest asset is walkability to the MarshWalk, dock or boat-slip access, or marsh-view screened porches — not competing on oceanfront against Garden City towers.


Pawleys Island fits operators targeting affluent, repeat, multi-generational guests willing to pay premium ADRs for creek-and-ocean cottages with history and the deliberately unpolished "arrogantly shabby" character that is the exact opposite of Myrtle's neon. Lead times run 82 days — the longest in the Hammock Coast survey —, and 49.4% of listings require 30+ night minimums, signaling regulatory and HOA-driven stay structures. ADR scales hard by bedroom count: one-bedroom units average $148, while six-plus-bedroom homes command $673+ on AirROI — a 4.5x premium that rewards family-compound product. Top-10% listings earn $89,916+ annually. March appears in the peak set alongside July and June (spring-break and golf shoulder), a seasonality pattern that beach-only hosts north of the inlet miss. Choose Pawleys when you hold authentic historic-cottage or large family-house products and can lean into worn-in charm as the selling point — not resort gimmicks.


Litchfield Beach fits operators in gated, golf-adjacent, quiet-luxury communities who want the highest ADR in the survey ($439) with the lowest annual occupancy (28.8%) — a boutique, hold-your-rates-off-season model. Inventory skews toward Litchfield-by-the-Sea resort product (45.5% hotel/boutique, 34.6% houses on AirROI), with an 86-day average lead time and a 3.8-night average stay. Peak July earns approximately $5,709 monthly revenue at 41.4% occupancy; January trough runs approximately $2,134 at 21.2% occupancy — yet off-season ADR ($449 low-season average) exceeds peak ADR ($432), confirming owners price for exclusivity rather than volume. The top 25% of listings command a $411+ ADR; the top 10% exceed $595. Choose Litchfield when you can merchandise gated privacy, community beach-club access, proximity to championship golf (Caledonia, True Blue, Willbrook), and multi-suite, family-reunion-scale behind HOA-compliant rental rules.


Seasonality, Tourism Demand & the Hammock Coast Premium

Hammock Coast seasonality follows the Grand Strand's July apex but with a steeper off-season trough and stronger golf-and-culture shoulder drivers. Universal pattern: July is the single best revenue month in every sub-market; January and December bottom at approximately 20–28% occupancy. November is deep shoulder on the Waccamaw Neck — between Fall Bike Rally closeout (September 25–October 4) and the holiday-light ramp — but two dated anchors move bookings: Dickens Christmas Show (November 12–15, 2026, Myrtle Beach Convention Center, twenty minutes north) and Nights of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens (opens November 27, 2026; timed-entry evenings through January 3, 2027). Murrells Inlet and Pawleys hosts should price late November around the Brookgreen holiday demand, not summer fire-sale discounts.


Georgetown County's tourism director called the 2024–2025 window the biggest year in county tourism history, with Waccamaw Neck collecting the vast majority of accommodations tax. The structural demand profile differs from Myrtle: a STR-dominated lodging mix, multi-generational repeat loyalty, and guests who book Brookgreen, Huntington Beach, and Hammock Coast golf as the trip, not the SkyWheel. Feeder markets skew the same Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic drive corridor (North Carolina ~20%, South Carolina ~17%, Virginia ~13%, Ohio and Pennsylvania ~7–8% each) but with a higher-income, longer-stay, repeat-visitor skew on the Hammock Coast.


Golf remains the off-season engine. The Grand Strand's 80 courses and $1.6 billion golf economy support spring and fall shoulder travel that "balances seasonal swings" — Caledonia Golf & Fish Club and True Blue Plantation sit minutes from Litchfield and Pawleys Island. Atalaya Arts & Crafts Festival (September 25–27, 2026, Huntington Beach State Park) anchors late-September shoulder demand for the inlet and Litchfield corridor.


Regulation, Taxes & the Risk Landscape That Changes Your Underwriting

The Hammock Coast's regulatory gradient is this report's second spine — and the single biggest variable platform data pages omit.


Murrells Inlet is predominantly unincorporated, split between Horry County (northern inlet parcels) and Georgetown County (southern inlet and MarshWalk core). STR compliance depends on which county your deed sits in: Horry County unincorporated requires county business license, hospitality fee (3% outside city limits), and accommodations tax registration (~12% combined cited for unincorporated Horry); Georgetown County unincorporated requires county business license and 3% local accommodations tax on transient lodging (~10% combined: 7% state + 3% county). Hosts must verify county jurisdiction at the parcel level — a compliance error that trips up new owners who assume a single rule set applies to the entire inlet.


Pawleys Island carries the highest regulatory uncertainty on the Hammock Coast. The incorporated Town of Pawleys Island maintains a "Short-Term Rentals Prohibited" page citing a 2020 COVID emergency ordinance; Pass 2 research could not confirm a current permanent prohibition in retrievable public sources — verify current STR legality with Town Hall (843-237-1698) and Georgetown County Planning before publishing any claim. Practical reality: most "Pawleys Island" rental inventory in AirROI and AirDNA data sits on unincorporated mainland and North Litchfield parcels governed by Georgetown County rules, not the incorporated barrier island. Georgetown County treats rentals of less than 30 days as residential use; operators need a county business license and tax registration. Historic-district owner-occupancy nuances and beach ordinances (no glass containers, no overnight items on the beach, fireworks-free zones) apply across the corridor.


Litchfield Beach is an unincorporated area of Georgetown County with additional HOA covenants in gated communities such as Litchfield-by-the-Sea. County stack: 7% state (5% sales + 2% accommodations) + 3% Georgetown County local accommodations tax ≈ 10% on lodging (the county's separate 2% hospitality tax applies to prepared food and beverage, not rentals — do not double-count). HOA rental restrictions, minimum-stay rules, and beach-club pass requirements vary by community; hosts must read covenants before listing. The Litchfield Company (333 listings — largest PM in the Pawleys sub-market per AirDNA) and Garden City Realty dominate professionally managed inventory here.


Pending statewide risk: South Carolina Senate Bill S.442 (2025–2026 session) would affirm local authority to cap or prohibit STRs, mandate responsible local representatives and $1M liability insurance, and remove the ≤6-bedroom owner-occupied state accommodations-tax exemption. Introduced March 2025; not passed as of this research pass. Flag as pending legislation — verify status at publish.


2026/2027 Operating Posture for Hammock Coast Hosts

The honest 2026/2027 summary: the Hammock Coast trades Myrtle's scale for differentiation and ADR premium, but with materially more regulatory risk, thinner granular data, and supply surges (+70–80% YoY in Murrells and Pawleys) compressing per-listing economics even as revenue trends up. Georgetown County bucked the Grand Strand's 2025 decline; July Waccamaw Neck occupancy hit 81% — summer demand is durable. The risks are off-season occupancy, county-jurisdiction compliance errors, HOA surprises, and underwriting using the wrong occupancy methodology.


Corporate managers running static seasonal grids compete on price; independent hosts with one MarshWalk-walkable inlet house or one arrogantly shabby Pawleys Creek cottage win on experience merchandising, compliance-forward copy, and feeder-market targeting toward Charlotte, Raleigh, and Virginia, driving families who return annually. Build your annual calendar in four passes. January–February: set summer peak tiers and open July holds before spring-break demand stacks up; merchandise the golf shoulder for March. March–May: protect turnover economics during spring break and golf weeks with minimum stays matching legal floors. June–August: peak revenue months — July is a profit month everywhere on the Hammock Coast. September–November: run honest through pricing but layer Brookgreen holiday-light premiums from November 27 forward and Dickens weekend spillover for inlet hosts.


Investor disclosure for 2026/2027: occupancy methodology varies 15–25 points by vendor; Murrells and Pawleys supply grew 70–80% YoY; Litchfield is the low-supply-growth exception (+9.1%); Pawleys incorporated-island STR legality requires Town Hall verification; Murrells Inlet requires county-jurisdiction confirmation on every parcel. Treat regulation, HOA covenants, and data scarcity as active operating variables — not settled history.


Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Ready to translate Hammock Coast market data into listing positioning, pricing tiers, and guest-guide copy?

We help hosts and investors in Hammock Coast with sub-market positioning analysis, seasonal calendar architecture, anti-commodity listing merchandising, and guest guidebooks tuned to how guests actually search. If you want hands-on help implementing any of that on your property, our team takes a limited number of new engagements per quarter. Reach out at crestcove.co — we'll take an honest look at where your listing stands and tell you plainly whether we can help.


Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Hammock Coast a better STR market than Myrtle Beach? Different market, not automatically better. Hammock Coast ADRs run $379–$439 versus Myrtle Beach's $251, but listing counts are 156–430 per sub-market versus 8,400+ in Myrtle, and regulatory risk (Pawleys STR uncertainty, county splits, HOA covenants) is higher. Choose Hammock Coast for premium experience and pricing power; choose Myrtle for volume and thinner compliance friction in permitted zones.


What is Murrells Inlet STR revenue potential? AirROI shows an average annual revenue per listing of approximately $41,953, a $408 ADR, 39.8% availability-adjusted occupancy, and +31.6% revenue growth against +70.0% supply growth. AirDNA reports higher figures on a broader market definition.


Why is Pawleys Island average revenue lower than Murrells Inlet despite higher ADR? Pawleys' 49.4% of listings carry 30+ night minimums, and 35.2% availability-adjusted occupancy suppresses portfolio-average revenue. Large 6BR+ homes command $673+ ADR; top-10% listings earn $89,916+. Underwritten by bedroom tier, not market average.


What is Litchfield Beach's competitive position? Highest ADR in the Hammock Coast survey at $439 with lowest occupancy at 28.8% — a hold-rate, low-volume, gated-community model. Only +9.1% supply growth versus 70–80% in Murrells and Pawleys. Best for quiet-luxury family compounds with HOA-compliant rental rights.


Is Airbnb allowed in Pawleys Island? Regulatory status on the incorporated barrier island is contested and time-sensitive. The Town's website cites a 2020 COVID emergency order; a permanent prohibition was not confirmed in public sources. Most rental inventory labeled "Pawleys Island" sits in unincorporated Georgetown County. Verify with Town Hall and county Planning before acquiring or listing.


What county rules apply in Murrells Inlet? Murrells Inlet straddles Horry and Georgetown counties. Northern parcels follow Horry County unincorporated rules (~12% combined tax cited); southern parcels and the MarshWalk core follow Georgetown County (~10% on lodging). Confirm county jurisdiction by parcel address.


What is peak season on the Hammock Coast? July is the universal apex in every sub-market. March also peaks at Pawleys (golf and spring-break shoulder). November is deep shoulder until Brookgreen's Nights of a Thousand Candles opens November 27, and the Dickens Christmas Show (November 12–15) drives convention-area spillover.


How does Georgetown County tourism compare to Myrtle Beach in 2025? Georgetown County's accommodations tax rose 7.4% YoY (June 2024–May 2025) while Myrtle Beach fell 1.4%. July 2025 Waccamaw Neck STR occupancy hit 81%. The Hammock Coast bucked the Grand Strand's broader softening.


About the Authors

Crest & Cove Creative is a Southeast-focused short-term rental marketing agency founded by Thomas Garner and Jacob Mishalanie. We build direct-booking brands, listing-optimization systems, and market-specific content strategies for independent STR operators across the Gulf Coast, Appalachian Mountains, Coastal Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, and the Southeast lake country.


Related Reading

Explore more South Carolina Coast short-term rental insights and host guides:


Sources

AirROI — Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island, and Litchfield Beach market reports, Jun 2025–May 2026. AirDNA — Murrells Inlet, Pawleys Island overviews. Airbtics — Murrells Inlet and Pawleys Island annual revenue. Post & Courier — Georgetown County tourism season (A-tax +7.4%, July 2025 81% STR occupancy). Georgetown County — Hospitality/Accommodations Tax. Horry County — hospitality fee and STR sales-tax chart. Town of Pawleys Island — short-term rental pages. Hammock Coast SC — Huntington Beach State Park. Brookgreen Gardens — Nights of a Thousand Candles. PlayGolfMyrtleBeach — golf economic impact. SC Legislature — S.442 Short Term Rentals bill. Tourism Works for the Grand Strand — 2024 economic impact.


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