Figure Eight Island is worth the price if what you actually want is a beach with no public access, no hotels and no storefronts, and you can absorb both the annual carrying cost and the erosion risk on the north end. It is not worth it if you need the house to sell quickly, if you want resort amenities, or if a special assessment would change your plans.
This is the question we get from buyers who have just driven to the guard house, looked across the bridge, and started doing math. It is a fair question, and the answer is not the same for everyone. Figure Eight is a real estate market of roughly 500 properties on a private barrier island north of Wrightsville Beach, and almost everything that makes it desirable also makes it harder to own.
We would rather tell you where the costs and the risks sit than talk you into or out of it. Here is what the price actually buys, and what it does not cover.
What are you buying that you cannot buy nearby?
Privacy, and the absence of things. There is no public beach access on Figure Eight, no commercial development, no hotels and no through traffic. The island is reached by one gated bridge with a staffed guard house off Edgewater Club Road near Porters Neck. On a July Saturday that difference from Wrightsville Beach or Carolina Beach is not subtle.
The island also gives you ocean on one side and sound, marsh and tidal creeks on the other, which means the buying decision is really two decisions. Oceanfront buys you the dune line and the surf. Soundside buys you deep-water access, a dock and the sunsets, usually for meaningfully less money. We spend real time with buyers on which of those matches how they intend to use the house, because the two experiences differ more than the map suggests.
What you are not buying is a resort. There is no hotel, no restaurant row and no commercial services on the island. The Figure 8 Beach Yacht Club is a private social and boating club, not a public amenity package. Groceries, medical care and dinner out all happen on the mainland, roughly ten to fifteen minutes away toward Porters Neck and Mayfaire. Our Figure Eight Island guide covers the layout in more detail.
What does it actually cost to own?
- Roughly 500 properties on the island, with a median around $6.75 million and a range from about $1.5 million to past $10 million Tidal Realty Partners Figure Eight Island neighborhood guide, 2026
- Average days on market around 95 Tidal Realty Partners Figure Eight Island neighborhood guide, 2026
- Property tax: Figure Eight is unincorporated New Hanover County, so the rate is the county’s 30.6 cents per $100 plus the 7.25-cent fire services rate that applies to unincorporated areas, for 37.85 cents New Hanover County fiscal year 2026-2027 rates, reported by Port City Daily, July 10, 2026
- Coastal insurance: beach territories from Atlantic Beach to the South Carolina line took a 16% increase in 2025 and 15.9% in 2026 under the settlement between the Insurance Commissioner and the N.C. Rate Bureau, which had requested 99.4% N.C. Department of Insurance rate settlement, announced January 2025
The tax picture is the one pleasant surprise. Because the island is unincorporated, there is no municipal rate stacked on top. At 37.85 cents per $100, a $3 million house runs about $11,355 a year in property tax, and a $6.75 million house about $25,500. A comparable value inside the Wilmington city limits would pay the city’s 33.15 cents on top of the county rate.
Insurance is where the number gets large and unpredictable. Oceanfront exposure on a barrier island is quoted on wind and flood separately from the homeowners policy, and high-value coastal homes frequently end up with wind coverage through the N.C. Insurance Underwriting Association, which has its own limits. We wrote about how that works in what the NC Beach Plan is and whether you will be stuck with it, and the percentage deductibles are explained in our guide to wind, hail and hurricane deductibles. On a multimillion-dollar rebuild cost, a 5% named storm deductible is a six-figure number you are self-insuring.
Then there is the association. Shared costs on a private island fall on the owners, and beach work is the big one. That is not theoretical here, which brings us to the north end.
How serious is the erosion problem?
Serious at the north end, and it is the single thing we most want buyers to understand before they fall in love with a particular address.
In February 2026 the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission granted a variance allowing 21 oceanfront properties on the island’s north end to install larger sandbag structures, with a 40-foot-wide base standing 12 feet high, spanning two accessways owned by the Figure Eight Beach Homeowners’ Association. The north end has eroded rapidly since 2022 as the channel at Rich Inlet shifted, at rates measured between 5.3 and 11.5 feet a year. The association has planned a dredging of Nixon Channel, expected in November 2026, to produce roughly 250,000 cubic yards of beach-compatible sand for placement along that stretch.
The history matters too. More than a decade ago the association pursued a terminal groin at Rich Inlet as a permanent fix, and in 2016 property owners voted down the special assessment that would have paid for it. Which tells you two useful things: the erosion problem is long-running, and the owners themselves are the ones who decide whether to fund the response.
None of this means the island is washing away. The great majority of it is stable, and dredging and sand placement are ordinary coastal maintenance up and down this shoreline. It does mean the north end carries a different risk than the middle of the island, and that your due diligence should include the association’s recent assessment history and whatever is currently planned.
Liquidity is the real drawback. With roughly 500 properties and an average of about 95 days on market, a single sale moves the comparables and there are stretches when almost nothing trades. Two houses a short walk apart can be worth very different amounts depending on frontage and condition, so an appraisal can land somewhere you did not expect, and a cash buyer has a meaningful advantage. If your plan involves selling within a few years, or if an unplanned assessment would be a hardship, Wrightsville Beach gives you most of the coastal experience with a far deeper buyer pool and a faster exit. We tell buyers that honestly, and some of them buy at Wrightsville instead. That is a good outcome.
Related questions people also ask
Can the public visit Figure Eight Island?
No. Figure Eight is a private, residents-and-guests island reached by a single gated bridge with a staffed guard house, and there is no public beach access anywhere on it. Visitors need to be on a resident’s or a renter’s guest list to clear the gate. This is the defining feature of the island and the main reason its beaches stay empty even in high season.
Are there rental restrictions on Figure Eight Island?
Figure Eight has a long-established weekly rental market, and many owners do rent their homes seasonally. The association’s rules govern how rentals operate, including guest access through the gate, and those rules can be amended over time. If rental income is part of how you plan to carry the house, read the current governing documents and confirm what is permitted before you are under contract rather than after.
Is Figure Eight Island in a flood zone?
Most of it is, as you would expect on a barrier island with ocean on one side and marsh on the other, though the specific zone and base flood elevation vary considerably by parcel. A lender will require flood insurance on any property in a high-risk zone, and the elevation certificate drives what that coverage costs. Pull the flood determination and the elevation certificate for the exact address during due diligence and get a real quote, not an estimate.
If you are seriously considering Figure Eight, ask for the homeowners association’s assessment history and current beach-management plan alongside the usual disclosures, and get an insurance quote on the specific address before your due diligence period runs. Those two documents will tell you more about the true cost than any comparable sale will. We are glad to pull them with you and walk through what they mean.
Sources: Tidal Realty Partners Figure Eight Island neighborhood guide, 2026; Coastal Review Online, February 27, 2026, on the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission variance of February 25, 2026; New Hanover County fiscal year 2026-2027 tax rates reported by Port City Daily, July 10, 2026; N.C. Department of Insurance homeowners rate settlement with the N.C. Rate Bureau, announced January 2025.
