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

• 30A is a string of Florida towns and beaches between Destin and Panama City, two spring-break hot spots.

• Named for the highway running through it, 30A has long been a low-key favorite for Southern families.

• Now people from as far as Illinois and Montana are spending millions on real estate there, too.

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 Beach that 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 somewhat off 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."

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."

The pandemic is what really brought the crowds, locals said

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, manages 35 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 first was the 2008 recession, where rock-bottom prices allowed developers to move in and buy open land.

"There'd be a few vacant lots, and then a house surrounded by trees and brush," he told Business Insider. "Then all of sudden, you'd see individual developments of monster homes being built on the beach."

The luxury homes made sense alongside planned communities that were popping up along 30A. Alys Beach, built in the mid-2000s, features over 600 uniformly white homes, mimicking a Mediterranean village, and a town center with high-end shopping and restaurants.

Nearby Seaside, built in the 1980s is also so idyllic, with its cottage-like homes in various pastel colors, that the 1998 film "The Truman Show" about a fictional utopia was filmed here.

Then, the pandemic hit. In 2020, the state of Florida had one of the earliest and least restrictive reopenings following COVID-19 lockdowns. By June, bars, restaurants, and shops were able to open again. Those seeking solace from stricter measures and escape in the Florida sunshine flooded 30A's beaches.

"The infrastructure that had been built and all the quality development is paying off in a way that we hadn't seen previously," Stewart said.

Even with the influx of visitors and investor money, Kemp said 30A's appeal hasn't changed.

"It's stayed consistent," Kemp told BI. "This is a place for families to go on vacation and connect with one another in one of the most beautiful environments in the world."

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