Portugal, Spain... South Carolina? Lowcountry town makes list of ‘up-and-coming’ spots
On Friday, a report in the online real estate section of The New York Times featured six “emerging” waterfront towns attractive to homebuyers, particularly those seeking a less-crowded respite near the coast during the coronavirus pandemic.
Alongside a sweeping vista of a fishing village on southwest coast of the Spanish isle of Majorca, a sun-drenched photo of a Turkish resort town known for its “uncrowded beaches” and a view of a Portuguese hamlet facing the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon, one South Carolina town made the cut.
No, it’s not America’s No. 1 island (sorry, Hilton Head). It’s Bluffton.
Described as “about a 10-minute drive west of Hilton Head,” the Times report highlights the May and Colleton Rivers and “many tidal creeks” that surround the town, marked by its exponential growth and rapid development in recent years.
The write-up quotes Hilton Head Realtor Stacy Benedik, who says Bluffton distinguishes itself with its “classic South Carolina Lowcountry feel with friendly residents and a slow pace of life.”
On the list, Bluffton — incorrectly identified as a “city” — is in illustrious company.
Also featured is Belize’s Ambergris Caye, a 25-mile-long island “near one of the world’s largest reefs” and reachable only by boat or plane.
The report also includes Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, an “oceanfront village” on the Central American nation’s Pacific coast, known for “white-sand beaches, surfing and fishing.”
Here’s a full list of the “up-and-coming spots” for homebuyers in the report:
- Bodrum, Turkey
- Port d’Andratx, Majorca (Spain)
- Cascais, Portugal
- Ambergis Caye, Belize
- Bluffton, S.C. (USA)
- Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
COVID-19 pandemic brings new homebuyers to Beaufort County
After lockdowns and other measures meant to fight the first wave of the coronavirus depressed home sales, the real estate market in Beaufort County rebounded significantly, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported in June.
“We live in a want-to-live place, not a need-to-live place,” Christian Sherbert, an agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Bay Street Realty Group, told the newspapers.
Low interest rates coupled with a surge of buyers trying to flee regions hard hit by COVID-19 drove banner home sales around the Hilton Head Island area over the summer, real estate agents said.
Zillow page views of for-sale listings in the area are up 60% from last year, according to a recent analysis by online real estate database company. Pending sales in the week that ended Sept. 26 were up more than 30% from a year earlier, the report found, while nationally pending sales only rose 22% year-over-year in the same week.
A single-family home in Wexford on Hilton Head is on the market for $12.5 million, making it the most expensive non-oceanfront home ever listed on the island, the newspapers reported this month.
In Bluffton, the New York Times report says, buyers can expect to pay more than $1 million for a three-bedroom riverfront property.
