July 30, 2026
South of Wilmington, Brunswick County has been one of the more consistent growth stories on the North Carolina coast for years, and it shows no real sign of slowing. The engine is straightforward: retirees and second-home buyers drawn by beaches, golf, and a lower cost of living than more established coastal markets further north and south, arriving in numbers large enough to reshape the county's retail and service commercial landscape year after year.
What Makes This Market Different
Unlike growth driven primarily by employment, Brunswick County's population growth is heavily weighted toward retirees and second-home owners choosing the area for lifestyle reasons — beach access, golf communities, a warmer climate than they're leaving, and housing costs that remain more approachable than comparable coastal markets in South Carolina or Virginia. That's a different kind of demand driver than a typical job-center suburb, and it shapes what kind of commercial real estate performs well here.
The county spans a wide range of sub-markets, from the beach towns directly on the coast to inland growth corridors along US-17 and US-74/76 connecting toward Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. Each of these sub-markets has a somewhat different demand profile, and treating "Brunswick County" as a single market misses a lot of the nuance that actually drives commercial performance.
Property Types Worth Watching
Medical and healthcare-related real estate. A retiree-heavy population base drives durable demand for medical office, urgent care, imaging, physical therapy, and specialty healthcare space. This is one of the more resilient commercial categories in the county because healthcare demand from an aging population doesn't slow down with the broader economic cycle the way discretionary retail can.
Retail and grocery-anchored centers. As new residential communities fill in across the county's growth corridors, grocery-anchored retail, everyday service retail, and casual dining consistently follow. The best-performing centers tend to be positioned near the intersection of major residential growth areas and primary arterial roads rather than deep in the beach-town cores, where seasonality is more pronounced.
Hospitality and tourism-adjacent commercial. The beach towns themselves — Oak Island, Holden Beach, Sunset Beach, and others — carry real seasonal tourism demand that supports short-term rental-adjacent retail, restaurants, and service businesses catering to vacationers, alongside the year-round retiree base.
Professional and financial services office. A growing retiree population with real estate and investment assets to manage supports steady demand for financial planning, insurance, legal, and other professional office space, particularly in the county's inland growth corridors where year-round population is concentrated.
Multi-family and workforce housing-adjacent commercial. Sustained population growth has also created demand for the retail and service infrastructure that supports renters and workforce housing near the county's employment nodes, particularly around healthcare campuses and inland commercial corridors, not just around the beach communities themselves.
Who This Market Fits
Brunswick County suits an investor or business owner comfortable with a demand base driven by lifestyle migration rather than corporate employment. That demand has proven durable over a long stretch of growth, but it does carry its own risk profile — it's more sensitive to housing market conditions and consumer confidence among retirees than to the kind of job-growth data that drives more traditional suburban markets. It's a strong fit for medical, service, and everyday retail concepts, and less of a natural fit for uses that depend on a large daytime working population, like some office and industrial categories.
For business owners, particularly in healthcare, personal services, and retail, Brunswick County offers a growing, relatively affluent customer base that's still expanding meaningfully year over year in specific corridors.
Practical Guidance Before You Buy or Lease
- Distinguish between sub-markets. A beach-town retail site, an inland highway-corridor site, and a site near one of the county's golf-community developments each have different demand drivers and seasonality. Match the property type to the specific sub-market, not the county as a whole.
- Underwrite seasonality realistically for tourism-adjacent assets. Beach-area retail and hospitality see real seasonal swings. Build your model around trailing, full-year performance rather than peak-season numbers.
- Check flood zone and insurance costs. Coastal proximity means flood zone designation and insurance costs can materially affect a deal's economics; confirm these numbers early, not at the closing table.
- Track the residential pipeline in your target corridor. Retail and medical demand follow rooftops with a lag. Look at approved and under-construction residential activity near your target site to gauge the real trajectory.
- Weigh year-round versus seasonal population when underwriting rents. A site's achievable rent and lease terms should reflect its actual year-round customer base, not the inflated summer population, unless the use itself is seasonal by design.
For current listings and a closer look at how specific sub-markets in the county are trending, you can see current listings and demographics on my Brunswick County market page.
How I Help
Brunswick County rewards buyers who understand which sub-market and which demand driver they're actually underwriting — beach-town seasonality, inland corridor growth, or the steady pull of healthcare demand from a retiree population. I help clients get specific about which of those dynamics applies to their site before they commit capital, and I bring the same rigor to a disposition, positioning an asset for the buyer pool that actually understands this market's fundamentals.
If you're evaluating Brunswick County or comparing it to Pender County or Wilmington itself, I'm happy to walk through the numbers with you. You can schedule a call here or reach me at sebastian@mullarkeycre.com or (919) 797-5900.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult with a qualified financial advisor, CPA, and real estate attorney before making an investment decision.