Palmetto Dunes Real Estate on Hilton Head Island

Palmetto Dunes real estate spans small villa complexes a short walk from the beach and single-family houses on the lagoons, the golf fairways and the ocean. The listings below show what is on the market now. The rest of this page covers what a listing leaves out: how the community is laid out, what an owner has to do to get through the gate, and what renting the place out involves.

Before You Buy in Palmetto Dunes

Palmetto Dunes Homes for Sale: Villas, Condos and Houses

The houses for sale in Palmetto Dunes on Hilton Head Island (HHI), SC come in two shapes. Villas, which most people call condos, sit in named complexes such as Villamare, Hampton Place and The Village. Captains Walk villas for sale in Palmetto Dunes, Hilton Head, come up in the same searches. If you are looking at condos for sale in Palmetto Dunes, that is where to start, and each complex’s page on our rentals side shows what the units are like. Houses are single-family homes, many of them on a lagoon or a golf fairway, with the oceanfront ones at the top of the market. See Palmetto Dunes house rentals for how the different lots look from a guest’s side.

The gated Leamington neighborhood at the south end has its own association and its own rules, so read that page before you compare it with the rest of the resort.

Where in Palmetto Dunes: Mariners Side, Inverness Side and Leamington

The local MLS files the resort under one area and splits it three ways, and the listings above carry those names. The Mariners side is the north end, around the Robert Trent Jones course and The Dunes House, and it holds most of the single-family houses along with complexes such as Queens Grant, The Moorings, Water Oak and Beach Villas. The Inverness side runs through the middle of the resort, around the George Fazio course, and is almost all villas: St Andrews Commons, Turnberry Village, Inverness Village and Fazio Villas, plus oceanfront Villamare. Leamington is the whole south end, its residential side and its oceanfront villa side together, so a listing in the MLS’s Leamington section may or may not sit behind Leamington’s own gate under its own association. Ask which before you compare dues.

One thing to know if you are searching yourself: the MLS puts Palmetto Dunes and Shelter Cove in the same area, so an unfiltered search mixes in the villa buildings at Shelter Cove Harbour. The listings on this page are Palmetto Dunes only. The harbour’s villas have their own page, Shelter Cove condos for sale, and the harbour and Towne Centre are in our Shelter Cove guide.

Owning in Palmetto Dunes: Gate, Decals and the PDPOA

Owners of Palmetto Dunes property are members of the Palmetto Dunes Property Owners Association (PDPOA), which runs the gates and the pass office. Owners get a windshield decal to speed up entry. It renews every two years, and you bring the vehicle registration and, if you have just bought, your closing statement to the pass office at 16 Queens Folly Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928 (843-785-1125). Ask the association, not the listing, for the current annual assessment: it is not published outside the owner portal. More on the association is on the Palmetto Dunes POA page.

Buying a Palmetto Dunes Home to Rent Out

Many buyers plan to rent the place when they are not in it. For stays under 30 days, the Town of Hilton Head Island requires a short-term rental permit for each property and a separate business license. Both run from May 1 to April 30, so they renew every spring, and the Town’s short-term rental owner center is where you register.

The association adds its own rules. The whole property has to be rented to one party, with no room-by-room rentals. The house needs the community’s safety signage, guests should watch the resort’s welcome video, and you have to answer the resort’s Security team within an hour if they call about a problem at the property. Most owners hand all that to a manager. See Palmetto Dunes property management for how the resort’s own program and independent managers compare.

Not Ready to Buy Yet?

A week in a rental is the easiest way to learn which part of the resort suits you. Browse Palmetto Dunes vacation rentals, then come back to the listings. For the rest of the community, see the Palmetto Dunes guide, and for other communities across the island, the Hilton Head real estate search.