Land and Lots for Sale on Hilton Head Island

Hilton Head is mostly built out, so land for sale on the island is either a lot left in an established neighborhood or a parcel outside the gated communities, where most of the listings are. The listings below are live from the MLS. After them we cover the questions that decide what a lot is worth to you: water and sewer, trees, the flood zone and, in a gated community, the design review.

Lots for Sale on Hilton Head Island: Inside a Gate or Out

A lot inside Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, Windmill Harbour or another gated community comes with the community’s amenities and its rules: an architectural review board approves the house before the Town does, and the property owners’ assessment starts when you close, not when you build. Land outside the gates has fewer rules and no assessment, and it includes the island’s historic Gullah neighborhoods, where some family land is held as heirs’ property by several owners at once, so a clear title search matters.

Water, Sewer and Trees

Three public service districts supply the island’s water and sewer: Hilton Head, Broad Creek and South Island. Ask which one serves a lot and whether sewer reaches it; some island homes are still on septic, and the Project SAFE program exists to connect them. Trees are the other early question. The Town requires a Natural Resources permit to remove a tree, and it protects specimen trees, the outstanding examples of their kind, so a large live oak can decide where the house goes.

Before You Buy Land in Hilton Head, SC

Get the flood zone and the base flood elevation, which set how high the house must sit and what flood insurance will cost, and a survey that shows wetlands and any marsh buffer. Then price the house as well as the lot: our Hilton Head home builders guide lists who builds here, and new homes for sale in Hilton Head shows what finished new houses are asking.