FHA Loans in Beaufort, SC: City, Port Royal and Lady's Island Addresses, Historic District Homes and Flood Zones

The City of Beaufort's Historic District page says the original town covers 304 acres and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. Additions, demolitions, new construction, renovations and site work inside it all need a certificate of appropriateness from the City.

You can buy a home in Beaufort with an FHA loan, and the 2026 limit of $638,250 is the same for a City address, a Port Royal address and a Lady's Island address. The tax bill, the flood insurance discount and the repairs an older home must have done are what change from one address to the next. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in South Carolina through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work from Bluffton.

My page on Beaufort covers the city's history and festivals, and the Hilton Head-Bluffton area page covers the region. The FHA rules below come from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, and I checked every local fact on November 3, 2026. If you want the basics of the program first, the FHA explainer has them.

The FHA loan limit is the same on every Beaufort street

The City of Beaufort, the Town of Port Royal and Lady's Island are all in Beaufort County. HUD's 2026 mortgage limit lookup puts the FHA limit for a one-unit home in the county at $638,250. The limit applies to the base loan, which is the loan before FHA's one-time upfront mortgage insurance premium is added. Handbook 4000.1 says that premium can be financed and is not counted against the limit.

For a purchase, the Handbook sets the maximum loan at 96.5% of the adjusted value, which is the lower of the price and the appraised value. The minimum down payment is therefore 3.5%, and a credit score of 580 or higher qualifies for that maximum. On those terms a base loan of $638,250 corresponds to a price near $661,400, and a larger down payment raises the price you can reach.

I did not find a median sale price for the City of Beaufort from the local listing service or from a realtor association. The websites that publish one disagree with each other, so this page prints none. I would rather compare the limit with the actual home you are looking at than with an average.

Beaufort, Port Royal and Lady's Island send three different tax bills

A home in and around Beaufort can be in any of three tax districts on the Beaufort County Auditor's 2026-27 millage card. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. The card lists the City of Beaufort as district 120, the Town of Port Royal as district 110 and Lady's Island as district 200.

South Carolina assesses the home you live in, your legal residence, at 4% of its value once you apply with the Beaufort County Assessor. At that 4% rate, the City, Port Royal and Lady's Island share the same county, school debt, college and hospital levies, which add up to 95.8 mills. The rest comes from the town or the fire district. The City charges 62.8 mills for operations and 11.1 for debt, which is 73.9 together. Port Royal charges 72.0 for operations and nothing for debt. The Lady's Island district has no town levy and charges its fire district 40.0 mills for operations and 2.7 for debt, which is 42.7.

The Island News reported in January 2017 that the City had announced it would annex property at Secession Golf Course and ten businesses along Sea Island Parkway. A Lady's Island address can therefore be on either side of the City line, so I check the county's parcel record instead of assuming.

The table below runs a $400,000 purchase price through each district. The $400,000 price is only an example and is not a Beaufort median. Each tax figure is 4% of that price multiplied by the district's mills.

Example: owner-occupied home bought for $400,000	Mills at 4%	Tax a year
City of Beaufort (district 120)	169.7	$2,715.20
Town of Port Royal (district 110)	167.8	$2,684.80
Lady's Island (district 200)	138.5	$2,216.00

The City bill is about $499 a year, or $42 a month, higher than the Lady's Island bill on the same price. None of that includes flat fees, credits or special levies on an individual bill. FHA counts real estate taxes in the total mortgage payment, so the district changes the income you need as well as the monthly cost.

FHA is an owner-occupied loan. The Handbook requires at least one person on the loan to move in within 60 days of signing and intend to stay at least a year. The 4% rate described above is for a legal residence, and you apply with the Beaufort County Assessor, online or on paper. The Assessor's forms page states no deadline, so I ask the office directly, at 843-255-2400.

A home that does not get the 4% rate is assessed at 6%, and the same card lists 295.8 mills at that rate for the City, because school operations, 126.1 mills, are added on top. A $400,000 home assessed at 6% would carry about $7,099 a year in the City, instead of $2,715.

Flood zones, FEMA's discount and the City's own flood study

On an FHA loan, the flood zone decides whether the home needs flood insurance for the life of the loan. The Handbook says the lender orders a flood zone determination, independent of the appraiser, to find out whether a home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area. That is FEMA's high-risk zone, one that begins with A or V on its map. If any part of the dwelling is in one, flood insurance has to be kept for the life of the loan, in an amount at least equal to the lowest of three things. They are the replacement cost of the improvements, the most the National Flood Insurance Program sells for that type of property, and the loan balance.

The premium goes into the monthly payment, and the address decides how much discount it carries. FEMA's Community Rating System is its program for discounting flood premiums in communities that do more than the minimum to reduce flood damage. FEMA's April 1, 2026 list of eligible communities shows these entries:

Community	CRS class	Premium discount
Beaufort County (unincorporated, including Lady's Island outside the City)	5	25%
City of Beaufort	6	20%
Town of Port Royal	9	5%

A discount only helps a home that needs a policy, and the zone for the specific lot decides that. The City of Beaufort studied its own exposure in a November 2019 Flood Vulnerability Assessment by the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, the College of Charleston's Lowcountry Hazards Center and Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments.

In its highest scenario, 6 feet above mean higher high water (the average of each day's higher high tide), the model floods up to 30.4% of the City, or 4,815 acres. About 83% of The Point's area floods in that scenario, and The Point had the most buildings exposed to the highest tidal levels.

The study also modeled a 6-inch rainfall, which floods about 14% of the City, and it lists both Mossy Oaks neighborhoods among the areas City staff flagged for drainage problems. It is scenario modeling and not a forecast for any parcel. For a specific home, I order the flood determination. My article on buying a home in a flood zone covers the insurance side.

Older homes and the FHA appraisal

An FHA appraisal is an appraisal that also checks the home against HUD's Minimum Property Requirements, which the Handbook defines as general requirements that every FHA-insured home be safe, sound and secure. The appraiser acts as the lender's on-site representative. If the appraiser sees a problem, the report must list the repairs needed and the estimated cost to cure.

The Handbook says the lender may approve a home only after confirming that every defect the appraiser reported has been corrected. A defect that cannot feasibly be corrected means the lender must reject the property. The lender must also confirm that the home is free of lead paint hazards and of environmental and safety hazards that could affect the occupants or the structure.

None of that is specific to Beaufort. The Historic District is the original town, though, so a lot of its homes are older ones. Please send me the contract early, so we can plan around what the appraisal says.

Buying in the Historic District and fixing it up with a 203(k) loan

If the home needs more than a repair list, FHA has a second route. Handbook 4000.1 describes the Section 203(k) rehabilitation program as one that can purchase and rehabilitate an existing home. The Standard version covers remodeling and repairs with a minimum repair cost of $5,000 and requires an FHA-approved 203(k) consultant. The Limited version is for minor, nonstructural repairs and caps the total rehabilitation cost at $75,000.

The home must be an existing one that was completed at least a year before the case number was assigned. The case number is the number FHA gives each loan when the lender opens it. The Handbook adds that a home which fails regular FHA health and safety standards may still qualify under 203(k) if the planned work corrects the problem. My article on what a 203(k) consultant does walks through that part.

The City's own review is separate. The certificate of appropriateness mentioned at the top of this page covers renovations, additions and site work in the district, and the City's page says the Historic District Review Board has jurisdiction over most projects. It is guided by the Beaufort Code, the 2022 Beaufort Preservation Manual and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation.

The page gives no timelines or fees, so I cannot tell you how long a review takes. I ask for the work list early so the loan's repair budget and the City's review can be lined up.

Checking a Beaufort address for an FHA loan

• The parcel record on the county's property search, which shows whether the home is in the City, in Port Royal or in the Lady's Island district.
• The flood zone for the specific lot and whether any part of the dwelling is in a Special Flood Hazard Area.
• For a Historic District home, the age and condition of the roof, wiring, plumbing and paint, and any work you plan.
• Your complete income and asset documents. Getting pre-approved in South Carolina lists what I will ask you for.

Once you have an address in mind, I can run the FHA payment with that parcel's tax district, a flood premium if the zone requires one and your down payment. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and the application opens from there. You are also welcome to call me and talk it through first.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax or legal advice. The Beaufort County Assessor decides whether a home gets the 4% rate, FEMA's map decides the flood zone, and the City decides what work a Historic District home may have done. Please confirm each before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

What is the FHA loan limit in Beaufort, SC for 2026?

It is HUD's one-unit limit for Beaufort County, and the City of Beaufort, Port Royal and Lady's Island are all in that county. The limit section above gives the figure and what it means for a purchase price.

Can I use an FHA loan to buy a home in Beaufort's Historic District?

Yes, if the home passes the FHA appraisal and the base loan stays within the county limit. An older home may come back with a repair list that has to be completed before closing, and renovations afterward need the City's certificate of appropriateness.

Is property tax different in Beaufort, Port Royal and on Lady's Island?

Yes. Each is a separate tax district with its own town or fire district levy, so the same price produces a different bill. The tax table above shows the three side by side, and the county's parcel record shows the district for a specific home.

Does an FHA loan in Beaufort require flood insurance?

Only when part of the dwelling is in a Special Flood Hazard Area on FEMA's map. In that case the policy has to be kept for the life of the loan, and the premium counts in the monthly payment.

Can I buy a fixer-upper in Beaufort with an FHA loan?

Yes, through the Section 203(k) program. It rolls the purchase and the repairs into one loan, with a consultant required for the larger version and a cap on the smaller one.