A stretch of Florida beaches has soared from a lesser-known gem to 'the Hamptons of the South'

24.08.2024 - 12:50 / insider.com / City Beach

It once was one of the South's best-kept secrets, but now the word is out.

A 26-mile Florida highway known as 30A — lined with towns including Rosemary, Seaside, and Santa Rosa Beachthat front the Gulf of Mexico — has become one of the country's hottest luxury vacation destinations.

Nestled between two famous spring break destinations, Destin and Panama City Beach, the 30A beaches earned their reputations as quiet, family-oriented destinations somewhatoff the beaten path.

A decade ago, those visitors were mostly from Southern cities within driving distance, like Atlanta and Nashville, local real-estate agent Beau Blankenship told Business Insider.

"Now you're seeing people from the Northeast, people from the West, Salt Lake City, Utah, Colorado," he said.

South Walton County, which includes 30A, reported in 2023 that visitor spending during the peak summer season has increased $500 million compared to 2019. It's even earned the nickname "the Hamptons of the South."

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Locals describe 30A beaches as mixing Caribbean-esque clear blue waters and powdery white sand with trademark Southern hospitality. In the past few years, word has gotten out, attracting visitors — and homebuyers — from around the country.

In 2020, Blankenship sold a towering $3.8 million, six-bedroom home in Inlet Beach with wraparound porches on every level to a family from Chicago. In March this past year, he sold a $4 million, four-bedroom home in Santa Rosa Beach to a family from Montana.

Blankenship said the popularity is spreading through word of mouth, though national coverage from outlets like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times has certainly helped.

"The family from Chicago came down because their brother told them about it," he told BI. "They loved it so much they bought after the first time they came."

Luxury rental owner Kemp Stewart has witnessed the explosion of 30A firsthand.

In 2018, he moved to Santa Rosa Beach from Oklahoma and started his vacation rental management business with just one home.

Now his company, Bespoke Management, manages35 homes across 30A communities with prices as high as $2,500 per night, a rise that mirrors the rest of the region.

One 30A community, Rosemary Beach, has seen the median sales price of homes increase from $1.1 million in July 2019 to $3 million in July 2024, according to real-estate listings site Redfin.

Over the same amount of time, vacation rentals on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo are commanding higher rates, growing from $450 to $530 per night, and are booked more often, rising from 69% to 84% monthly average for occupancy, according to data from short-term-rental analytics site AirDNA.

The boom, Stewart told Business Insider, had two inflection points. The