Habersham POA
Beaufort & the Sea Islands
Habersham
Walkable New Urbanist riverside community
A New Urbanist town on the Broad River outside Beaufort — front porches, a walkable Marketplace, and dinner a short stroll from home.
- Setting
- Walkable · riverside
- Founded
- 1998
- Water
- On the Broad River
- Home styles
- Cottages → custom
The character
Habersham is the Lowcountry's answer to a walkable town — a New Urbanist, traditional-neighborhood community built on the Broad River just outside Beaufort, and planned around a genuine town center rather than a golf course or a guardhouse. Homes sit close to narrow, tree-lined lanes behind deep front porches, garages tuck onto rear alleys, and the whole layout is drawn so that dinner, a coffee, or the dock is a short walk from the front steps.
The town plan came from Duany Plater-Zyberk — the firm behind Seaside, Florida — and Habersham is widely regarded as one of the most influential New Urbanist towns in the country, which is exactly why it feels unlike anything else in the region. Daily life orbits the Habersham Marketplace — a compact, mixed-use center of shops, restaurants, and offices at the community's heart — and the waterfront, where a deep-water community dock opens onto the Broad River. It reads as an open, strollable town rather than a gated enclave, with parks, greens, and a calendar of town-square events, and it sits minutes from the antebellum streets and waterfront of downtown Beaufort.
Life here
- The walkable Habersham Marketplace — shops, restaurants, and offices at the town center
- A deep-water community dock where Habersham Creek meets the Broad River — plus a sunset tower and River Retreat Pavilion on the community's islands
- A community pool (a village pool complex opens in 2026), plus tennis and four pickleball courts
- Parks, greens, and miles of tree-lined walking lanes
- A calendar of town-square and community events
Best for
- Buyers who want a walkable town over a gated golf resort
- Full-timers and second-home owners drawn to historic Beaufort nearby
- Households who value front-porch community and Broad River access
Home styles
Lowcountry and Southern-traditional homes and coastal cottages in the traditional-neighborhood vernacular — deep porches, metal roofs, and garages on rear lanes — from smaller cottages to larger custom and riverside homes, new-construction and resale both.
The money layer
Fees & Assessments
What ownership here actually costs — every figure sourced, dated, and carrying its own confidence tag. This is real, maintained data, not a range we made up.
Last reviewed Jul 21, 2026
$1,350 / year
Reported — confirming Source: realestatebeaufortsc.com — “HOA vs POA: How Habersham Governance Works” (Beaufort-area RE blog), cross-checked against the community's own login-gated owner dues pageBilled annually, or in two $675 installments (a half-year each, not the annual), plus a 3% processing fee. Main Street / live-work units differ ($500–$1,000). A one-time capital contribution may apply at closing — no specific figure is published.
Transfer fee: not published — confirming
What the dues include
- Not included: Gated security / patrol
- Included: Roads & common areas
- Included: Common-area landscaping
- Included: Amenity access
POA dues fund the community pool, the Broad River dock, parks, greens, and common-area upkeep. Habersham is an open, walkable New Urbanist town — not gated — so there's no gate or guardhouse. Community amenities are covered by the dues; there's no separate amenity club to join. Main Street / live-work units carry different dues.
Assessments
-
None known as of Jul 21, 2026
Reported — confirming Source: Palmetto Key research
Fees change and vary by property. Confirm all figures at contract.
Certified turnkey homes in Habersham
Move-in-ready, with the report on file.
As homes in Habersham earn their Key, they appear here — pre-inspected, prepped, and fully disclosed. No firehose of every listing; only the certified ones.
No certified homes in Habersham are live yet.
Palmetto Key is signing its founding Lowcountry roster ahead of launch. If you're selling here, get the home certified and it's featured on this page the day it earns its Key.
More in Beaufort & the Sea Islands
All guides Beaufort & the Sea Islands
Fripp Island
Private oceanfront barrier-island resort community
A private barrier island at Beaufort's edge — miles of Atlantic beach, two golf courses, and deer on the dunes.
$400K – $3M+
Read the guide
Beaufort & the Sea Islands
Dataw Island
Gated island club community
A gated Sea Island club minutes from downtown Beaufort — two golf courses, a marina, and the tabby ruins of the old Sams plantation.
$400K – $2M+
Read the guide