What is being built on the Grand Strand right now?
Houses, hospitals, roads, and the permit count.

The short answer

Houses, mostly. Builders were allowed to start 6,898 homes in the Myrtle Beach metro in 2025, and 3,873 from January to July 2026. That is 13.0 percent below the same months a year earlier.

The county has 44,735 more units already approved and not yet built. Most of them are in Longs, Carolina Forest, Surfside and Burgess.

The big projects are three hospitals holding state licenses that are not fully open, four road jobs under way, and the airport terminal that opened in December 2025. Interstate 73 has right of way and plans. It has no construction contract and no money to build.

This page is rebuilt every month from the federal permit count and the county's own data. The sections below have each number and where it came from.

What is being built in Myrtle Beach right now?

Each row names the source and the date its data runs to. The sections below have the detail.

Two things the owner of a rental here asks about are not on the list. Nothing is under construction on Interstate 73. No new bridge to the beach has a contract. The section on roads has what is funded and what is only planned.

How many houses are being built?

The federal government counts the homes that local governments permit each month. The count covers the Myrtle Beach metro, which is Horry County plus Brunswick County in North Carolina. Each month's figure arrives about four weeks after the month ends.

January to July 2026 is 13.0 percent below the same months of 2025. Most of the permits are single-family houses in planned communities. Buying a new house as a rental has the warranty, the incentives and the recorded rules.

What is approved and not yet built

The county's planning office keeps a map of every major subdivision with the units its zoning allows and the units built. Subtracting one from the other gives the homes that can still be built without a new approval. On September 8, 2026 that was 44,735 units in the unincorporated county: 29,704 houses and 15,028 apartments or condos. The cities keep their own records.

The county says it updates the layer once a year. 811 of its 1,486 records still carry a February 1, 2019 date, and those hold 10,621 of the remaining units. Treat a count from an old record as an old count. The largest developments, with the date on each record:

Pine Ridge is the one to watch. Horry County Council passed a development agreement with Pulte Home Company on August 18, 2026. The tract was entitled to 2,506 homes and the builder agreed to a cap of 2,000. In return the county gets a connection of SC 31 from SC 707 to US 17 Bypass, with the builder paying part of the road. The county also gets land for a recreation center. A resident told council at the vote that building would start about 2029.

Inside the city of Conway, Warden Station was annexed in January 2024 with more than 3,300 homes planned on about 1,800 acres along US 701 South. The news report counts 1,380 houses, 1,018 townhomes and 920 apartments. The city's own agreement was not found online. It is not in the county layer because it is inside the city.

At the 2025 pace of 6,898 permits a year, the 44,735 approved units are about 6 years of building. The rent page has what new supply does to the rent in the areas that get it.

Which hospitals are being built?

Three. The state's license list, updated August 31, 2026, carries all three with their bed counts and their approval dates from 2021. Each was appealed by competing systems and each survived.

McLeod cut the ribbon on August 27, 2026 on a four-story, 48-bed hospital in Carolina Forest, the first new hospital in Horry County since 2011. Grand Strand Health broke ground on February 9, 2026 on the 59-bed South Strand Hospital across from its existing medical center. Tidelands Health's 36-bed hospital at SC 31 and SC 707 cleared its appeals in 2023 with a 2028 target. The system's own page could not be opened for this update.

Conway Medical Center is building two free-standing emergency departments and no hospital. One is in Socastee, opening late 2026. One is at SC 90 and SC 22, in 2027. A hospital brings traveling nurses on 13-week contracts. Furnished monthly rentals is the rental they use.

Is Interstate 73 being built?

No. The state transportation department's own page says right of way is bought from I-95 to US 501. It is nearly bought from US 501 to the Marion County line. From there to SC 22 it is still being bought, through 2026. It also says: funding has not been identified to advance construction on any of the three phases. The northern half, into North Carolina, is on hold.

Horry County has $450 million in its road sales tax for the interstate. It is a local match of up to half the cost from SC 22 to the county line. The match is paid only if the state signs a construction contract for the rest. Nothing has been spent.

A road with bought land and finished plans is not a road. Nothing on this page counts the interstate as a reason to buy in one area over another, and no listing should.

Which roads are under construction?

Horry County's one-percent road sales tax funds most of the work. The 2017 to 2025 program paid for the roads finishing now. The 2025 to 2050 program, approved by voters in November 2024, lists $6.6 billion of projects. Design on the large ones starts between 2025 and 2030. Budgets below are the county's or the state's own figures.

Finished since 2018: International Drive from Carolina Forest to SC 90, and the widening of Carolina Forest Boulevard. Also the Fred Nash Boulevard extension around the airport runway, Postal Way, and US 701 through Loris. The county's project pages carry a budget, the money spent and a date stamp for each road.

North Carolina dropped the preferred route for the SC 31 extension on April 22, 2026, citing public feedback and funding. The two states will look at other routes. South Carolina's share is funded for land purchase only, from 2027.

What else is changing on the Grand Strand?

The airport opened a $93.5 million, six-gate terminal expansion on December 1, 2025, six weeks early and under budget by the county's figures. Its own passenger tables show 3,530,754 arriving and departing passengers in 2025, 8.0 percent below the 2024 record. January to July 2026 had 1,881,122, 10.0 percent below the same months of 2025. Spirit, its largest airline in 2025, stopped flying in May 2026. Ten airlines serve it today.

The City of Myrtle Beach has put $97 million into its downtown district, with $15 million from the state. The money goes to utilities, a 300-seat theater on Main Street and land purchases. The theater was scheduled for summer 2026 and is now expected toward the end of the year. The US 501 realignment onto 7th Avenue North is part of the same work.

North Myrtle Beach finished a $36 million expansion of its sports complex in November 2025, doubling its ball fields. In May 2026 Horry County approved a $115 million civic center and equestrian arena on Hardwick Road near US 501 and SC 22. It also approved $10 million toward a pool in Carolina Forest.

Where can you see the permits near a house?

The county publishes a map of active permits for the unincorporated county, with the address, the type and the value of each. We read it by machine every month. On September 8, 2026 the newest permit on it was issued September 22, 2025, and it showed 0 permits in the last 30 days. The feed has not been updated since that date, so the zero means the map is stale, not that building stopped. In its last live 30 days it showed 313 permits.

The county's live permit system still takes applications and shows records by address. North Myrtle Beach and Conway have their own portals. The City of Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach publish forms and no online records. For one house, the rental analyzer flags nearby permit activity with the numbers. After you buy through us, we tell you when a permit is filed near the property.

What does the building mean for a rental buyer?

New houses are supply. 6,898 permits a year and 44,735 approved units mean new competition for a landlord. The areas with the most approved land will have new houses for rent next to yours for years. Those are Longs, Carolina Forest, Surfside, Burgess and Little River. Rents in those areas have to compete with new construction. The returns page has the rent and the return by area.

Hospitals are demand. Each one brings traveling nurses on short contracts, and the furnished monthly rental is what they rent. Roads change the drive to the beach, and a house on a road being widened is a house next to a construction site for two years.

The interstate is neither. Until a construction contract is signed, a listing that prices in the interstate is pricing in a plan. We do not.

Common questions

Grand Strand construction FAQ

How many homes are being built in Myrtle Beach?

Builders were allowed to start 6,898 homes in the Myrtle Beach metro in 2025 and 3,873 from January to July 2026, by the federal permit count. The unincorporated county has 44,735 more units approved and not yet built, most of them in Longs, Carolina Forest, Surfside and Burgess.

Is Interstate 73 under construction?

No. The state has bought right of way from I-95 to US 501 and most of the way to SC 22, and has plans. It says funding has not been identified to build any of the three phases. Horry County's $450 million is a match paid only after the state signs a construction contract.

What new hospitals are being built in Myrtle Beach?

Three hold state licenses. McLeod Health Carolina Forest, 48 beds, cut its ribbon in August 2026 and opens this fall. South Strand Hospital, 59 beds, broke ground in February 2026 for late 2027. Tidelands Health Carolina Bays, 36 beds at SC 31 and SC 707, is projected for 2028. Five free-standing emergency departments are open or under way.

Which roads are being widened in Myrtle Beach?

US 501 from SC 31 to SC 544 and the downtown 501 realignment finish in fall 2026. US 701 north of Conway is under construction. The US 17 Bypass is going from four lanes to six between SC 707 and Harrelson Boulevard. SC 90 is in design for 2025 to 2030, and the SC 22 extension is not started.

How often is this page updated?

Monthly. The federal permit count, the county's development layer and the county's permit map are read by machine and the page is rebuilt. The current data runs to July 2026 for permits and September 8, 2026 for the county layer.

Sources: Census permits, FRED, Horry County development layer, Council packet, Ordinance 73-2026, SCDOT, I-73, State license list, McLeod Health, WMBF, South Strand Hospital, RIDE 4, county road projects, NCDOT, SC 31, airport passenger tables, county permit map. Read September 11, 2026. Educational only. Dates and budgets are the agencies' own and change; a project with no contract has no date.

Buying near the building? Have us check the address first.

One call. The permits around it, the approved units next to it, the road plans, and the rent from local leases.