Pinehurst Southern Pines, NC STR Market Report for Independent Hosts

Thomas Garner
Aug 8
11 min read

Updated: 13 hours ago

Pinehurst No. 2 championship golf course in the Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina, home to multiple U.S. Opens

A Golf-Country Market With Real History

Pinehurst and Southern Pines sit in Moore County, roughly 75 minutes south of Raleigh in North Carolina's Sandhills region, and they represent one of the deepest concentrations of championship golf anywhere in the country. Pinehurst Resort alone operates nine numbered courses, headlined by Pinehurst No. 2, a Donald Ross design that has hosted the U.S. Open multiple times, most recently in 2024. This is not a market discovering short-term rentals for the first time. Vacation rentals and second homes have been part of the local economy here since well before the Airbnb era, built on a century of golf tourism, seasonal residents, and a resort culture that predates platform-based hosting entirely.

That maturity shows up in the numbers. Host Compliance identified 269 active short-term rentals in Pinehurst as of July 2026, and AirROI's data on neighboring Southern Pines shows a smaller but genuinely real market of roughly 190 listings. Together the two towns form a single Sandhills golf-country demand base, even though, as the next section covers, they regulate short-term rentals in almost opposite ways.

Larger homes carry a real premium in this market. Estimates for 5-plus-bedroom Pinehurst properties put average annual revenue at roughly (a figure worth reverifying against live comp data before making an investment decision, since STR revenue estimates shift with each new data pull). That skew toward bigger homes tracks with who is actually booking here: golf groups traveling together for a tee time at one of the numbered courses, and multigenerational families gathering for a golf trip or reunion, not the solo traveler or couple that dominates demand in many leisure-first STR markets.

That guest mix is worth dwelling on because it shapes almost everything downstream: pricing strategy, listing photography, amenity investment, and even which town a buyer should target. A market built around groups of six, eight, or ten guests behaves differently than a market built around couples, and an investor pricing a Pinehurst property like a typical two-bedroom coastal condo will consistently underprice the actual demand this market supports.

Two Towns, One Very Different Rulebook

The single most important fact for anyone evaluating this market is that Pinehurst and Southern Pines regulate short-term rentals almost oppositely, and that difference changes which town makes sense for which kind of buyer. The Village of Pinehurst adopted Village Ordinance #22-15 on October 27, 2022, amending the Pinehurst Development Ordinance to restrict new short-term rental use of residentially-zoned property. Under the ordinance, a property could continue operating as a short-term rental only if it was already doing so in the 365 days before the ordinance took effect. Existing, already-operating rentals were allowed to continue as a legal nonconforming use, but any residentially-zoned property that wasn't already renting short-term by that October 2022 window is effectively locked out of residential-zone STR use going forward, confined instead to hotel- and mixed-use-zoned parcels.

That is a genuine, dated supply-scarcity story, and it is unusual enough to be worth naming directly: most golf-town content sells the course, but the real investment story in Pinehurst is the ordinance. The Village requires owners of pre-existing rentals to obtain formal nonconforming-use certification, a legal document that confirms the property's grandfathered status and transfers with the property to a new owner. That certification is not permanent by default, though: if a certified property goes 365 consecutive days without operating as a short-term rental, the nonconforming certification is revoked, which is a real risk for a buyer who plans to leave a grandfathered property vacant for an extended period.

Southern Pines runs a lighter, more conventional posture by comparison. The town requires a permit and city registration, but this research pass did not confirm any cap on new STR permits or a grandfathering mechanic parallel to Pinehurst's. That makes Southern Pines the more accessible entry point for a new investor who wants Sandhills golf-country exposure without hunting for pre-2022 grandfathered inventory in Pinehurst specifically. Anyone evaluating a specific address in either town should confirm current permit fees and any recent ordinance changes directly with the relevant town office before making an offer; this report reflects the most current information available at the time of research but local ordinances can and do change.

It's worth being explicit about what this research pass did not confirm as well. Moore County-level short-term rental requirements beyond the two towns' own municipal ordinances weren't verified in this pass, so a buyer working in either town should still check for any county-level layer on top of the town rule. And while the nonconforming-use certification process itself is documented by the Village, this report does not walk through the practical, address-by-address diligence steps a buyer follows to confirm a specific property's status before closing; that step-by-step process is covered in a dedicated companion post in this cluster.

What's Actually Driving Demand

The demand anchors in this market are specific and nameable, which matters for anyone trying to market a listing here or forecast its booking calendar. Pinehurst Resort's golf-course complex is the obvious center of gravity, and it got a fresh, name-worthy boost when the USGA opened Golf House Pinehurst in May 2024, bringing the World Golf Hall of Fame back to Pinehurst from its former home in St. Augustine, Florida. That's a real, relatively recent addition to the area's golf-heritage identity that a lot of existing listing copy likely hasn't caught up to yet.

Beyond the golf itself, the historic Village of Pinehurst has a walkable downtown built around tree-lined streets and early-20th-century architecture, originally laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm. Southern Pines has its own distinct identity a few miles away: the Broad Street corridor is an antiques-and-boutique shopping district that draws a different, more leisurely-paced visitor than the golf-group crowd Pinehurst attracts. Both towns anchor a golf-and-heritage identity that's genuinely distinct from the university-town and research-park demand that defines Raleigh's own Research Triangle market an hour and change to the north.

The tournament calendar is another concrete demand driver worth naming specifically rather than gesturing at vaguely. Pinehurst's Tournament Office runs signature amateur events out of the Resort Clubhouse year-round, including the North & South Amateur Championships and events like the Donald Ross Junior Championship, with a heavy concentration of high-profile amateur and junior tournaments clustered in the June-through-July window. A host who prices flat across the calendar is leaving real, dateable demand spikes on the table around these events.

One more honest data point from this research: no confirmed dominant national property manager, such as Vacasa, Avant Stay, or Evolve, turned up operating in this market. That's consistent with a fragmented, largely independent host base, which is both an opportunity (less competition from a large, well-capitalized management brand) and a signal that self-management or a small local manager is closer to the market norm here than the exception.

Which Town Fits Which Buyer

Framed as a genuine two-sided decision rather than a single verdict on the whole market, Pinehurst is the scarcity play. An existing, legally certified rental there holds real pricing power that a new entrant cannot easily replicate, because the pool of eligible residential-zone properties is functionally capped by the 2022 ordinance. A buyer here is paying for grandfathered status as much as for the property itself, and should budget real diligence time into verifying that status before closing (a subject this cluster covers in full in a dedicated diligence-checklist post). Southern Pines is the open-entry play: a smaller but real listing market, a lighter permit-and-registration process, and no confirmed supply cap, which makes it the lower-friction way to get Sandhills golf-country exposure without competing for scarce pre-2022 inventory.

For a buyer specifically chasing the larger-home, golf-group revenue premium this market shows in the data, Pinehurst's bigger, closer-to-the-numbered-courses inventory is probably the better fit, budget and grandfathering status permitting. For a buyer who wants lower-stakes entry, room to learn the market, or exposure to the calmer Broad Street leisure crowd instead of the golf-group guest, Southern Pines is the more forgiving starting point.

Either way, the underlying takeaway is the same: this is not a market where a generic golf-destination pitch is enough. The two towns' regulatory postures, guest profiles, and even architectural identities are different enough that a listing, and a business plan, built for one doesn't automatically transfer to the other. That guest mix is worth dwelling on because it shapes almost everything downstream: pricing strategy, listing photography, amenity investment, and even which town a buyer should target.

The regulatory contrast between the two towns also plays out in day-to-day operations, not just at the point of purchase. A Pinehurst owner operating under nonconforming-use certification should keep dated records, platform booking history, and any renewal correspondence with the Village organized and current, since that paperwork is what protects the certification if ownership changes hands or the Village conducts a compliance review. A Southern Pines owner, by contrast, is mainly managing a straightforward annual permit renewal, without the added burden of proving continuous historical use.

Guest expectations also diverge in ways that affect day-to-day operations more than most listings account for. A golf group booking a Pinehurst property is typically planning around a specific tee time reservation, often made months in advance through the Resort's Tournament Office or course pro shop, and needs secure storage for clubs, bunk-room or multiple-king-bed sleeping configurations, and a straightforward walk or short drive to the numbered courses. A Southern Pines guest drawn by the Broad Street corridor is a different kind of traveler entirely: less schedule-driven, more interested in walkable shopping and dining, and generally not evaluating the property on proximity to a tee time at all.

How This Compares to Other Southeast Golf and Second-Home Markets

Pinehurst's grandfathering mechanic is a genuinely unusual find in the broader Southeast STR landscape. Most interior North Carolina and Georgia golf towns either regulate short-term rentals loosely or not at all, or have adopted blanket caps that apply uniformly regardless of when a property started operating. Pinehurst's approach, protecting existing operators while closing the door to new residential-zone entrants, creates a two-tier market that rewards early movers in a way flatter regulatory regimes don't. That's the kind of dated, decision-grade specificity that separates a real answer to "can I still get an Airbnb permit in Pinehurst" from a generic statewide summary of North Carolina STR rules.

For an investor comparing this market against other Southeast options, the honest framing is that Pinehurst offers scarcity-driven pricing power for the buyer who can find and verify grandfathered inventory, while Southern Pines offers a more conventional, lower-friction entry that still benefits from the same golf-country demand base and lack of large-brand management competition. That makes Southern Pines the more accessible entry point for a new investor who wants Sandhills golf-country exposure without hunting for pre-2022 grandfathered inventory in Pinehurst specifically.

For a buyer or host trying to size up this market quickly: treat Pinehurst's 269 active listings and Southern Pines' roughly 190 as a snapshot, not a ceiling, since Pinehurst's own supply is functionally capped by the ordinance while Southern Pines' is not. Confirm current listing counts, the average revenue figure for larger Pinehurst homes, and each town's permit fees directly at the time of any purchase or listing decision, since all three data points move over time and this report reflects research current as of 2026. The core structural facts, the October 2022 ordinance date, the 365-day grandfathering window, and the two towns' opposite regulatory postures, are the parts of this report least likely to change and most worth building a strategy around.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many active short-term rentals are in Pinehurst and Southern Pines?

Host Compliance identified 269 active short-term rentals in Pinehurst as of July 2026, and AirROI's data shows roughly 190 listings in Southern Pines. Both figures should be treated as a snapshot rather than a ceiling and reverified at the time of any investment decision, since Pinehurst's supply is functionally capped by its ordinance while Southern Pines' is not.

What is Pinehurst Village Ordinance 22-15?

Ordinance #22-15, adopted October 27, 2022, restricts new short-term rental use of residentially-zoned property in the Village of Pinehurst to whatever was already operating as an STR in the 365 days before the ordinance passed. Existing rentals may continue as a certified legal nonconforming use, but new residential-zone STRs are not permitted going forward; new operators are confined to hotel- and mixed-use-zoned parcels.

Can I still get a short-term rental permit in Pinehurst?

On a residentially-zoned property, only if it was already operating as a short-term rental before October 27, 2022, and can obtain nonconforming-use certification from the Village. Hotel- and mixed-use-zoned parcels are not subject to this restriction, so new STR use is still possible there even though residential-zone entry is effectively closed.

Is Southern Pines easier to get an Airbnb permit in than Pinehurst?

Based on this research, yes. Southern Pines requires a permit and city registration, but this pass found no confirmed cap on new permits or a grandfathering requirement comparable to Pinehurst's ordinance, making it the more accessible entry point for a new investor who wants Sandhills golf-country exposure without hunting for pre-2022 grandfathered inventory.

How much revenue do larger Pinehurst vacation rentals earn?

This research pass could not confirm a reliable, sourced revenue figure for 5-plus-bedroom Pinehurst homes, so no specific number is stated here rather than risk repeating an unverified placeholder. What the data does support is the pattern behind the demand: larger homes carry a real premium because the guest base skews toward golf groups and multigenerational families traveling together, not solo travelers or couples, so a buyer should pull current comp data directly before underwriting a specific property.

Is there a dominant property management company in Pinehurst or Southern Pines?

This research did not find a confirmed dominant national property manager, such as Vacasa, Avant Stay, or Evolve, operating in either town. That's consistent with a fragmented, largely independent host base, which is both an opportunity for less competition from a large, well-capitalized management brand and a signal that self-management or a small local manager is closer to the market norm here.

What is the World Golf Hall of Fame's connection to Pinehurst?

The USGA opened Golf House Pinehurst, which includes the relocated World Golf Hall of Fame, in May 2024, moving the Hall of Fame back to Pinehurst from its former home in St. Augustine, Florida. It's a relatively recent, name-worthy addition to the area's golf-heritage identity that a lot of existing listing copy likely hasn't caught up to yet.

What happens if a grandfathered Pinehurst rental sits vacant?

Under Ordinance 22-15, a property's nonconforming-use certification is revoked if it goes 365 consecutive days without operating as a short-term rental. That's a real risk factor for an owner planning an extended vacancy or a slow renovation before relisting, since the certification is not permanent by default and does not automatically restore once lost.

What ongoing record-keeping does a Pinehurst nonconforming-use owner need?

A Pinehurst owner operating under nonconforming-use certification should keep dated records, platform booking history, and any renewal correspondence with the Village organized and current, since that paperwork is what protects the certification if ownership changes hands or the Village conducts a compliance review. A Southern Pines owner, by contrast, mainly manages a straightforward annual permit renewal without needing to prove continuous historical use.

Do Pinehurst and Southern Pines attract the same kind of guest?

No. A golf group booking a Pinehurst property is typically planning around a specific tee time reserved months in advance, and needs secure club storage and bunk-room or multiple-king-bed sleeping configurations close to the numbered courses. A Southern Pines guest drawn by the Broad Street corridor is a different traveler entirely, less schedule-driven, more interested in walkable shopping and dining, and generally not evaluating the property on proximity to a tee time at all.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

A Pinehurst listing that doesn't mention secure club storage or bunk-room sleeping loses golf groups booking months ahead of a specific tee time. Generic "close to the courses" copy doesn't answer what a foursome actually needs.

We help Pinehurst and Southern Pines hosts write listing copy around club storage, sleeping configuration, and course proximity that actually books golf groups.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.