North Myrtle Beach’s DSCR math turns on one line item: a citywide median condo price, per Homes.com, set against a city-specific average condo rent, per Apartments.com listing data. Run that pair through a standard 30-year purchase structure with taxes and insurance folded into the payment, and the coverage ratio lands right around breakeven, give or take. Run the same math on the citywide median single-family home against the median single-family rent, per Homes.com, and the ratio drops well below that level. That price-to-income gap is the entire investment thesis for this city.
Lendmire helps investors run and structure DSCR loan options against exactly this kind of property-level math, working with lenders across its network on files in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and in dozens of other markets.
DSCR Calculator
Run the numbers in North Myrtle Beach, SC
Rate source: Freddie Mac 30-yr average via FRED® — Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis · effective Jul 16, 2026
Prefilled with local estimates — enter your own rent or nightly figures, taxes, insurance, and HOA for a more accurate picture.
As of Jul 16, 2026 · General Freddie Mac market benchmark, not a Lendmire loan offer. Rent, nightly rate, occupancy, taxes, and insurance are editable estimates. Short-term rental figures are estimates only and vary significantly by season, property type, management approach, and local short-term-rental rules — confirm local regulations before relying on them. Qualifying income for short-term rentals varies by program — some use appraisal market rent, others use documented STR history or projections — and is confirmed in underwriting. Not a Loan Estimate, approval, or commitment to lend. Program availability and eligibility are subject to lender guidelines, credit approval, property review, and underwriting.
The Short Version: An investment property loan in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, is underwritten primarily on the subject property’s rental income measured against its full monthly obligation — taxes and insurance included — with rent comparables pulled from the same beach-town submarket rather than a citywide blend.
- Median condo price sits at $268,000 against a $1,604 average condo rent, per Apartments.com.
- Median single-family price runs $605,000 — nearly double the condo entry point on a slimmer rent multiple.
- Multi-family listings citywide range $423,500 to $5,999,500, averaging $470,755, per Homes.com.
- Cherry Grove multi-family listings clear the market in 77 days versus 84 citywide.
- Condo inventory carries roughly 7.8 months of supply, softening acquisition prices further.
North Myrtle Beach Market Snapshot
A quick read on the North Myrtle Beach investor landscape — figures come from the cited sources below. Confirm current property-level numbers before underwriting.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Home prices | Median sale price $405K (Redfin North Myrtle Beach) |
| University enrollment | Fall 2025 enrollment 11,881 (WMBF News (CCU enrollment)) |
| Population | 2020 census population 18,790 (Wikipedia: North Myrtle Beach) |
| Employment | Kyocera avx 1,000 employees (MBREDC Top Employers) |
The Rent-to-Price Split: Condos Win, Single-Family Doesn’t
Condo product clears breakeven coverage at standard leverage here; single-family product mostly does not. The math is not close.
A condo priced near the city’s $268,000 median, financed at 75% LTV, run against the $1,604 city-specific condo rent average, lands at roughly 1.04x once principal, interest, taxes, and insurance are counted against the rent — the calculation how DSCR coverage is calculated walks through in more detail. A single-family purchase at the $605,000 citywide median, against the $2,000 median single-family rent figure at the same leverage, lands closer to 0.58x — well under the 1.00x benchmark most standard DSCR programs use as a baseline, and even below the lower floor some select programs will consider on a case-by-case basis. Terms vary by lender guidelines, property type, leverage, credit profile, and full file review.
That doesn’t make the single-family purchase dead on arrival. It means the file needs a different structure: a larger down payment to shrink the payment, a select-program review some lenders will consider with stronger compensating factors, or — where the property isn’t a condotel and short-term rental is a legal option — blended income from nightly-rate revenue rather than a straight 12-month lease. Any of those paths runs through underwriting, credit review, and property review; none of them is automatic. But the condo trade doesn’t need the workaround in the first place, which is the whole point.
Local property managers steer most long-term rental condo inventory toward the Intracoastal side of town — Barefoot Resort, Waterway Landing, Briarcliffe Commons — since oceanfront towers skew toward vacation rental and second-home use rather than annual leases. That’s also where the 7.8 months of condo supply, versus roughly 3.8 months for single-family, works in a buyer’s favor: soft pricing on the exact product type that pencils best on rent. Nobody should underwrite near-term appreciation on that inventory. But nobody needs to — the cash flow is doing the work.
The Windy Hill Triplex Math
A three-unit stack in Windy Hill is the one property type in this market that clears comfortable coverage without leaning on short-term rental income at all. Multi-family listings here run from $423,500 to $5,999,500, with a citywide average sale price of $470,755, per Homes.com — including one specific income-producing triplex, three 1BR/1BA units, listed just blocks from the sand.
Model it out. A triplex priced near that $470,755 average, financed at 75% LTV, with three 1BR units renting near $1,400 each — a modeled assumption based on comparable one-bedroom rates in Ocean Drive and Cherry Grove, not a sourced Windy Hill figure — clears roughly 1.5x once taxes and insurance are folded into the payment. That’s the strongest coverage number here, and it’s coming from a property type most single-family buyers in this city never consider. Terms vary by lender guidelines, property type, leverage, credit profile, and full file review, and this modeled example is illustrative only, not a quote or a guaranteed outcome for any specific property.
Windy Hill’s interior streets, along with some interior Ocean Drive lots, offer the most accessible entry pricing in the city for standard buyers — a detail that matters when a triplex purchase also needs to clear a down payment and roughly six months of PITIA reserves on most standard programs (nine months above $1.5 million loan size), with credit tiers on most files starting around the 620 floor and climbing toward 700 for higher-leverage structures. None of that is guaranteed on any individual file — it’s subject to lender guidelines, credit profile, and property review — but it’s the range most files in this market are working within.
DSCR files on small multi-family purchases in beach towns like this one typically hinge on the rent roll more than the balance sheet. Appraisers need at least two or three comparable multi-unit rentals in a market where most transactions are single-family, and the deal works cleaner when the borrower hands over a lease-comparable analysis up front instead of leaving the appraiser to build the 1007 rent schedule from scratch. That’s a documentation habit, not a guarantee — but it’s the difference between a file that clears review the first time and one that gets kicked back for a rent reconsideration.
Cherry Grove is the outlier. Its multi-family listings — six of them currently, ranging $450,000 to $2.9 million, with a March median of $491,060 and an average sale price of $525,970, per Homes.com — clear the market in an average of 77 days, faster than the citywide multi-family average of 84. That matters more than it sounds. Faster-clearing comps mean fresher appraisal data, which matters both at purchase and later, for an investor eyeing the investor refinance breakdown once seasoning requirements are met.
But Cherry Grove’s residential character is channel homes, not rent multiples. Rows of properties with private boat docks ringing the inlet, a modest interior cottage in the $300,000s next to a northern-strand oceanfront home pushing past $1 million. That’s a lifestyle trade, not a cash-flow trade — the median single-family price here runs around $430,000 per Redfin’s 2025 data, and long-term rental inventory is genuinely thin because so much of the stock rotates through vacation rental use instead. Add in a flood-exposure note that applies citywide — roughly 5,396 properties carry elevated flood risk, per available flood-risk data — and Cherry Grove is where that factor deserves a second look before closing, independent of anything DSCR-related. Worth a conversation with an insurance professional before underwriting, not a reason to skip the neighborhood outright.
The broader price trend backs up the mix-shift story. Median sale price per square foot in North Myrtle Beach fell 14.8% over the past year, according to Redfin — a decline roughly ten times steeper than the 1.3% drop in overall median price. Meanwhile 560 homes sold in the most recent month tracked, up from 487 a year earlier. Smaller, entry-level product is selling in greater volume while premium square footage cools faster. That’s the appreciation-led trade losing steam right where the cash-flow trade is gaining ground.
What’s actually driving tenant demand in this city, though, isn’t the housing stock. It’s the employers.
What’s Actually Driving Tenant Demand Here?
McLeod Health Seacoast, located west of the Intracoastal in the North Myrtle Beach/Little River area, runs 155 patient beds, more than 200 physicians across 32-plus specialties, and recently opened a new patient tower plus a cancer center that’s the first of its kind in Horry County, per McLeod Health. An expanding, capital-intensive hospital campus signals durable shift-worker staffing needs — nurses, technicians, physicians — the kind of tenant base that favors a 12-month lease over a seasonal turnover. Grand Strand Medical Center, the region’s 403-bed HCA flagship and a Level I trauma center in Myrtle Beach proper, backs up that regional demand from the south.
North Myrtle Beach’s own population is modest by comparison to the surrounding region. Horry County, though, is adding people fast: 440,795 residents estimated for the county in 2026, a 3.1% annual growth rate, per World Population Review, and the Myrtle Beach metro ranked among the nation’s fastest-growing metros, per reporting from the Post and Courier. This county-level and metro-level momentum feeds a small city’s rental base.
Coastal Carolina University, about 15 miles inland in Conway, hit a record Fall enrollment of 11,881 students — up 6.2% from the prior year’s 11,348, per WMBF News. Most CCU students rent closer to Conway than North Myrtle Beach proper, so this is a modest tailwind at best for this city’s rental base, not a core demand driver — worth naming honestly rather than overselling.
Industrial employment rounds out the picture: Kyocera AVX at roughly 1,000 employees, Apollo Valves/Conbraco at 425, and Canfor Southern Pine at 275, per the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation — concentrated in the Little River-adjacent industrial corridor. Retail Trade and Health Care & Social Assistance are the two largest residential-industry sectors for people who actually live in this city, which tracks with a hospitality-heavy, healthcare-adjacent local economy rather than a corporate-headquarters town.
Ocean Drive and the Condotel Trap
Ocean Drive is the historic core — the spiritual home of the Carolina Shag, South Carolina’s official state dance, with Main Street built for beach music and walkability. It’s also where the condotel problem lives.
Condos here run $180,000 to $350,000, single-family homes $300,000 to $800,000-plus, with 1BR units renting $1,100 to $1,600 a month and 2BR units $1,400 to $2,000. Property managers describe strong seasonal-to-annual tenant conversion in this neighborhood — walkability to bars and restaurants pulls tenants toward year-round leases rather than pure seasonal stays. That’s a genuine advantage over more isolated stretches of the city.
The catch: many oceanfront condo towers along this stretch, and in Cherry Grove and Windy Hill’s beachfront buildings, are structured as condotels — properties with hotel-style amenities and mandatory rental programs. Standard DSCR lenders typically exclude condotels from eligibility outright, regardless of how the rent roll looks. That’s a product-fit issue investors need to flag before making an offer, not after. North Myrtle Beach carries a real short-term rental market underneath all this — 4,047 active listings, average annual revenue of $34,245, 36.2% occupancy, and a $361 nightly rate, per AirROI — but that revenue potential doesn’t override a condotel classification on a standard purchase file. Confirm the ownership structure and rental-program terms on any oceanfront condo before running DSCR numbers on it.
For investors weighing property-income underwriting against a standard mortgage instead, how the two loan types differ covers the side-by-side mechanics.
Windy Hill, meanwhile, is the entertainment gateway — Barefoot Landing and the Restaurant Row corridor sit right there — and its single-family stock, along with some interior Ocean Drive lots, remains the most accessible entry pricing in the city for a standard buyer, without the condotel overhang that complicates the beachfront towers.
Investors working purchase files in this market can request DSCR loan options for South Carolina investors or call Lendmire directly at 828-256-2183 to talk through where a specific property lands on the coverage math before making an offer.
DSCR vs. conventional financing
Two common ways to finance an investment property in North Myrtle Beach, SC. They qualify you differently — here’s how investors weigh them.
Why investors choose it
- Qualifies on the property’s rental income — no personal tax returns, W-2s, or pay stubs needed to document income.
- No personal debt-to-income ceiling to clear, so existing mortgages and obligations don’t cap your borrowing the same way.
- Can be closed in an LLC, keeping the property inside a business entity.
- Built for scaling — not held to the limit on number of financed properties that conventional financing applies.
- Underwriting centers on the deal: generally qualifies when the rent covers the payment, a 1.00x coverage ratio being a common baseline (confirmed in underwriting).
- Designed specifically for investment property, including long-term and, where the program allows, short-term rentals.
Where it’s strong
- Often the lowest ongoing financing cost for a buyer who fully qualifies on personal income — a fit for a first property or a cost-first purchase.
Trade-offs for investors
- Requires full personal income documentation and must fit within a debt-to-income limit — salary, existing debts, and other mortgages all count.
- Typically held in your personal name rather than a business entity.
- Caps how many financed properties you can carry, which can become a ceiling as a portfolio grows.
- Evaluates you as a borrower as much as the property, which usually means more paperwork.
How investors usually choose: a first or single property often optimizes for the lowest financing cost; portfolio builders often optimize for leverage, vesting in an LLC, and scaling past conventional caps. The right answer depends on your goals, the property, and current guidelines — both paths run through select lenders in Lendmire’s wholesale network, with eligibility and terms confirmed in underwriting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you qualify for a DSCR loan in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina?
Qualification centers on the property’s projected rent measured against its full monthly payment — taxes and insurance included — rather than personal income documentation. Most standard programs use 1.00x as a baseline threshold on select programs, though the exact number a lender will accept depends on credit profile, reserves, leverage, and program guidelines. Condos here tend to clear that threshold more easily than single-family homes at current price points.
What are the requirements for an investment property loan in North Myrtle Beach?
Most files require roughly 20-25% down (75-80% LTV), a credit score generally starting around 620 with better pricing available near 700, and reserves near six months of the full payment — nine months above $1.5 million in loan size. These are typical guideline ranges reviewed on a per-file basis, not guarantees, and vary by lender and program.
Do condos in North Myrtle Beach qualify for DSCR financing the same way single-family homes do?
Most standard condos qualify under normal DSCR underwriting, subject to a warrantability and HOA review. Condotels — oceanfront towers with hotel-style amenities and mandatory rental programs, common along Ocean Drive, Cherry Grove, and Windy Hill’s beachfront — typically don’t qualify under standard DSCR programs regardless of rental income, so confirming the building’s classification before underwriting matters here more than in most markets.
Is Cherry Grove a good market for a DSCR duplex or channel-home purchase?
It can work, but the case is built on appraisal quality more than rent multiple. Cherry Grove’s multi-family listings clear the market in an average of 77 days versus 84 citywide, which supports fresher comparable sales data — useful at purchase and for a future refinance. The neighborhood’s channel-home product trades heavily on lifestyle premium, though, so the rent-to-price math tends to run thinner here than in condo-heavy submarkets closer to Ocean Drive or Windy Hill.
Can Lendmire help investors explore DSCR financing for properties outside South Carolina?
Yes. Lendmire helps investors explore DSCR loan options across dozens of markets outside South Carolina as well, including DSCR investor loans for programs available in other states.
North Myrtle Beach isn’t a market where one property type carries the whole city. Condos near the Intracoastal clear the coverage math, Windy Hill’s multi-unit stock clears it better, and Cherry Grove’s channel homes ask an investor to accept a thinner ratio in exchange for faster-clearing comps and a different kind of demand entirely. Which trade fits a given buyer’s file is the real question — and it’s worth running the actual numbers on the specific property before deciding.
About Lendmire
Lendmire is a non-QM DSCR mortgage broker, not a direct lender. Rather than funding loans from its own balance sheet, Lendmire works with a network of lenders to help investors shop and structure DSCR loan options across a 40-market footprint that includes South Carolina and Washington, D.C. Lendmire carries NMLS# 2371349. Program availability, coverage-ratio thresholds, pricing, and eligibility are set by individual lenders and vary by credit profile, property type, leverage, and full file review — none of the figures, ratios, or property comparisons discussed here are a quote, a commitment to lend, or a guarantee of loan approval or investment outcome. This article is provided for general informational purposes and should not be treated as financial, tax, legal, or investment advice; investors should verify current pricing, rents, and program guidelines directly with a licensed loan professional before making a purchase or financing decision.
The firm has been recognized by Scotsman Guide as a 2025 Top Mortgage Workplace and a 2026 Top Mortgage Workplace.
Investment property review
See how the DSCR math works for North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Lendmire can review rent, leverage, property type, and DSCR fit before you get too far into the deal.
Informational only. Not a Loan Estimate, approval, or commitment to lend. Program availability and eligibility are subject to lender guidelines, credit approval, property review, and underwriting.
References
1. Homes.com
3. Homes.com
4. Redfin
5. WMBF News
6. Wikipedia: North Myrtle Beach
7. Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation
8. Homes.com
11. Post and Courier
12. Coastal Carolina University
13. AirROI
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Important disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage brokerage. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or financial advisor. All loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not constitute a commitment to lend. Rates, terms, and program guidelines are subject to change without notice and vary by borrower profile, property type, and state. Information in this article is general in nature and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
