Southport is not a budget coastal town, and the two line items that move your monthly cost most are the tax districts your parcel sits in and an insurance premium you cannot shop until you have an address. Asking prices across ZIP 28461 ran a median of $499,000 in late September, and inside the city limits the combined property tax rate is 0.692 per $100, which is about $3,460 a year on a $500,000 assessment.
People ask us this question after a weekend visit. They have walked Howe Street, eaten on the yacht basin, watched the pilot boats run out to the river, and now they want to know what the number actually is. It is a fair question and it has a specific answer, but the answer changes depending on which side of a city line the house sits on.
Here is how we walk a buyer through it: the house, then the tax bill, then the utilities, then the costs we cannot quote in advance. Three of those four you can pin down before you write an offer. The fourth is the one that surprises people. If you are weighing the town for retirement specifically, we answered whether Southport is a good place to retire separately.
What does the house itself cost?
Reading every page of Coldwell Banker’s Southport listings on September 24, 2026, we counted 337 active residential listings in ZIP 28461 asking $112,000 to $3,595,000, at a median asking price of $499,000 and a median 55 days on market. The 270 single-family homes ran $220,000 to $3,595,000, median $565,000. Condos started in the $240,000s and townhomes in the $259,000s, which is where most downsizing buyers land.
Asking is not selling. Our Brunswick County market update put the county median sale price at $409,000 for the three months ending August 2026, up 2.2% year over year, with a median 98 days on market against 67 days a year earlier. Southport, St. James, Oak Island and Holden Beach are the resale-heavy end of the county, and that 98-day median is felt here more than in Leland. A patient buyer has room to negotiate that a buyer did not have two years ago.
On the financing side, Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the 30-year fixed at 6.95% for the week ending September 17, 2026, per our mortgage update. On a $499,000 purchase with 20% down, that is a $399,200 loan and roughly $2,643 a month in principal and interest before a single other bill.
- 337 active residential listings in ZIP 28461, $112,000 to $3,595,000, median asking $499,000, median 55 days on market Coldwell Banker Southport listings, read September 24, 2026
- Brunswick County median sale price $409,000, up 2.2% year over year, 98-day median time on market Tidal Realty Partners Brunswick County market update, August 2026 data
- 30-year fixed 6.95%, about $2,643 a month in principal and interest on a $499,000 purchase with 20% down Freddie Mac weekly survey, week ending September 17, 2026
- Combined property tax rate inside the city limits 0.692 per $100, about $3,460 a year on a $500,000 assessment Brunswick County Tax Office rate table, read September 26, 2026
Why three tax lines show up on one Southport bill
A property inside the Southport city limits carries Brunswick County at 0.342 per $100, the City of Southport at 0.31 and Smithville Township at 0.04, for a combined 0.692. The township line is the Dosher hospital tax. On a $500,000 assessment that is about $3,460 a year, or $288 a month in your escrow.
Now move the same house a mile. A Southport mailing address is not the same thing as the Southport city limits. ZIP 28461 holds roughly 23,762 people and the city is 4,205 of them, as our Southport guide lays out. In St. James the municipal rate is 0.06 per $100 rather than 0.31, a difference of a quarter of a point that is worth about $1,250 a year on a $500,000 assessment. For comparison on the same table, Oak Island is 0.20 and Leland is 0.27.
There is one more line that is new this year and easy to miss. The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners approved the fire departments’ requested fire fees on August 3, 2026, and those rates apply on 2026 tax bills. Fire fees here are not a rate per $100 of value. They are calculated on the heated square footage of a building, or on acreage for vacant land, and they differ by fire department. A 3,000 square foot house and a 1,400 square foot cottage on the same street pay different fire fees. Pull the actual parcel record before you budget, because the districts are drawn at the parcel level, not by mailing address.
Who bills you for water, sewer and electricity?
This one changed recently and it still confuses people who moved here before the change. The City of Southport’s water and sewer system merged into Brunswick County Public Utilities, and the city’s own notice to customers says the merger is complete and that you are now a customer of the county. Water, sewer and recycle or yard debris bills come from Brunswick County Public Utilities, not from City Hall. The county’s water and sewer rate schedules for fiscal year 2026 to 2027 took effect July 1, 2026, and the county publishes them as separate water and sewer documents you can ask for by address.
Electricity is the piece to verify for your exact address. The City of Southport still handles electric service, and the city’s own utility page also lists Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation as a contact, which is one sign that not every home with a Southport mailing address is on city power. Before you build a budget, call the number on the city’s utility page and ask which utility serves the parcel. We have had clients assume one and get the other.
What a realistic monthly number looks like
Take a $499,000 house inside the city limits, 20% down, at this week’s rate. Principal and interest is about $2,643. Property taxes at 0.692 per $100 on a $499,000 assessment run about $3,453 a year, or $288 a month. That is roughly $2,931 a month before insurance, before the fire fee, before water, sewer and power, and before any homeowners association dues if the house is in a community that has them.
Swap the City of Southport’s 0.31 for St. James’s 0.06 and the tax line drops by about $1,250 a year, though a St. James address generally brings association dues that a house in the old city grid may not have. Neither is automatically cheaper. This is why we ask for the specific address before we quote anyone a monthly number, and why we will not quote one from a county average.
We are not going to hand you an insurance figure, and you should be skeptical of anyone who does. There is no published average homeowners premium for Southport from the North Carolina Department of Insurance or any other source we trust, and the online estimators we checked this month disagreed with each other by thousands of dollars for the same city. Coastal premiums here turn on wind coverage, distance to water, roof age and elevation, and two houses four blocks apart can be priced very differently. The honest version: get a real quote from an agent during your due diligence period, not after closing, and treat flood insurance as a separate question from wind. If the quote breaks your budget, you still have time to walk.
Related questions people also ask
Is it cheaper to live in Southport or Oak Island?
Neither one is reliably cheaper, because the difference is driven by the tax districts and the insurance rather than by the town name. The Brunswick County Tax Office rate table we read on September 26, 2026 shows Oak Island’s municipal rate at 0.20 per $100 against the City of Southport’s 0.31, so the tax line on an equal assessment is lower on Oak Island. Insurance usually runs the other way, because Oak Island is a barrier island and much of it carries flood and wind exposure that mainland Southport does not. Price a specific address in each place rather than comparing the towns in the abstract.
Do you need flood insurance in Southport NC?
It depends on the parcel, not the town. If a federally backed lender finances a home mapped in a special flood hazard area, flood insurance is required as a condition of the loan, and if the home is outside that mapping it is optional but often still a good idea. Flood risk in Southport changes within a couple of blocks because of elevation and proximity to the river and the creeks. Ask for the flood determination early in due diligence so the premium is part of your decision rather than a surprise at closing.
Does Southport have a homeowners association fee?
Many Southport-area homes do and many do not. The historic grid inside the city is largely made up of individually owned lots with no association, while the newer subdivisions annexed around the city and the larger planned communities outside the city limits generally have mandatory dues. Because dues, what they cover and any special assessments vary by community and change over time, get the current association documents and budget during due diligence rather than relying on a figure quoted in a listing.
Pick one specific Southport address you like and price it all the way through: the tax districts on the parcel record, the fire fee, the utility provider, and a real insurance quote. If you would rather have someone run that with you before you fall for a porch on Bay Street, schedule a consultation and our team will build the monthly number with you.
Sources: Brunswick County Tax Office tax rate table, read September 26, 2026 (county 0.342, City of Southport 0.31, Smithville Township 0.04, Oak Island 0.20, Leland 0.27, St. James 0.06 per $100). Brunswick County fire fee notice, fire fees approved by the Board of Commissioners August 3, 2026 and applied to 2026 tax bills. Brunswick County Public Utilities water and sewer rate schedules for fiscal year 2026 to 2027, effective July 1, 2026. City of Southport utility services notice on the merger of the city water and sewer system into Brunswick County Public Utilities, read September 26, 2026. Coldwell Banker Southport listings, all pages read September 24, 2026. Tidal Realty Partners Brunswick County market update, August 2026 data. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, week ending September 17, 2026, via our mortgage update. US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 estimates for population in the city and ZIP 28461.
