A buyer stands on the back patio of a home on Terrapin Point, looking down a fairway toward Adams Creek and Ossabaw Sound, and falls for the view before the paperwork is even out. Nobody at the showing mentions that this particular course, the one framing that exact sightline, is next in line for a full renovation. The listing agent may not know either. But the golf industry does, and it has known for a while.
That gap between what a buyer sees on a walkthrough and what's actually scheduled behind the scenes is the real story hiding inside The Landings' headline price. Everyone comparing this Skidaway Island community to other coastal or gated options has already seen a median number somewhere. Almost nobody asking about that number has been told it's an average of six places that don't behave like one market at all.
The number that means less than it looks like it does
Two respected trackers published numbers on The Landings within a few months of each other in 2026, and they point in opposite directions. Redfin reported a median sale price of $864,709 as of May 2026, up 8.1 percent year over year. Movoto's read on the same community showed a median list price of $800,000 in August 2026, down roughly 7 to 8 percent from a year earlier, with price per square foot also down on both a monthly and annual basis.
Both can be true at once, and the reason why is the whole point of this piece. A closed-sale median counts what actually transferred hands, and in a given window that mix might lean toward well-prepared, recently renovated homes that closed near asking price. A list-price median counts everything currently sitting on the market, including dated inventory that's been sitting for a while at a price nobody has agreed to yet. When those two populations shift in different directions, the medians will too, and neither number is wrong. They're just measuring different slices of the same island.
Six campuses, not one neighborhood
The Landings is organized into five golf campuses, plus a sixth non-golf pocket, and each has its own character, clubhouse, and architectural pedigree.
| Campus | Course(s) | Architect | What sets it apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshwood | Marshwood, Magnolia | Arnold Palmer | The 12th at Marshwood plays straight at Romerly Marsh and Wassaw Sound, long considered the prettiest hole on the property |
| Palmetto | Palmetto | Arthur Hills, redesigned by Bill Bergin in 2023 | The 13th hole holds the gravesite of Philip Delegal, an early settler of Skidaway Island |
| Oakridge | Oakridge | Arthur Hills | The 15th hole passes a family gravesite locals have nicknamed "the Cemetery" |
| Deer Creek | Deer Creek | Tom Fazio | Hosts the Korn Ferry Tour's Club Car Championship each spring |
| Franklin Creek | No golf course; clay tennis courts | N/A | Hosts the ATP's Savannah Challenger |
| Moon River | No golf frontage | N/A | Lagoon and marsh-front lots without a course view |
A home on Marshwood and a home on Franklin Creek are both "The Landings" on a portal search, but they don't compete for the same buyer, share the same view, or trade at the same pace. Averaging them into one figure produces a number that describes nothing in particular.
The renovation clock nobody puts in a listing
Here's the variable that matters more than most buyers realize, and it isn't the campus label itself. It's timing.
Palmetto went through this already. Architect Bill Bergin reangled a series of holes to bring water into play and ring the greens with steep fall-offs, and the course came back online in 2023 after the work was done. Buyers who closed on Palmetto homes during those renovation years bought into a temporary version of the neighborhood, one without a fully playable course out the back door, and that's a real tradeoff whether or not anyone spelled it out at closing. Three years later, it reads as a settled chapter, not an open question, which is exactly the point: today's disruption becomes tomorrow's non-issue, but only after someone lives through it.
Terrapin Point is next. Designed by Willard Byrd and opened in 1982, it's the narrowest course off the tee at The Landings, running to the southern tip of the island with holes 8 through 10 overlooking the marsh. Golf industry reporting from mid-2026 has Davis Love III's name attached to the next redesign, though no public start date has been announced. When that work begins, homes on that campus will go through the same closed-course stretch Palmetto already lived through.
This is the friction a portal search will never surface. A buyer comparing two nearly identical homes, one on a freshly reopened course and one on a course headed into a redesign, is not comparing two equal properties. One is buying stability. The other is buying a future disruption with an unclear calendar, and possibly a nicer course three years from now. Neither choice is wrong, but it should be a choice, made on purpose, not discovered after the fact.
Condition is quietly doing more work than campus right now
A market analysis of Skidaway Island's gated communities covering February 2026 found ten homes closed that month at an average sold price of $1,204,000, at 95.9 percent of list price, averaging 76 days on market. But the report's more useful finding wasn't the average. It was the split underneath it: fully renovated homes, particularly those with updated kitchens, baths, flooring, and major systems, were moving faster and trading closer to list. Homes still needing work were sitting longer even when priced in line with the broader averages.
Put that next to the renovation-clock story above and a pattern emerges. A campus in the middle of course construction is more likely to have owners who haven't bothered to update the house either, because who renovates a kitchen while the view out back is a construction site. A campus that's already been through its renovation, the way Palmetto has, tends to settle into owners motivated to bring the house up to the same standard as the course once the disruption passes. If that's even partly true, it means the renovation calendar isn't just about golf. It's quietly sorting which homes get refreshed and which don't, which closes near list and which languishes, campus by campus.
What this actually means for a comparison shopper
If you're cross-shopping The Landings against another coastal or gated community, the honest advice is to stop asking "what's the median price" and start asking two more specific questions. First, which campus, and what's that campus's course status right now, recently renovated, mid-renovation, or scheduled next. Second, is the specific home you're touring renovated or original, because the February 2026 data suggests that single fact predicts your negotiating position more than the campus name does.
None of this shows up in a portal's neighborhood summary. It shows up in golf industry trade coverage, club renovation announcements, and a walk through the actual house with someone who knows which fairway is about to go quiet.
Frequently asked questions
Which golf course is next for renovation at The Landings? Terrapin Point, designed by Willard Byrd and opened in 1982, is next in the queue. Davis Love III's name has been attached to the project in golf industry reporting from mid-2026, though a firm start date hadn't been announced as of this writing.
Does a course renovation always mean the whole course closes? Palmetto's rebuild under architect Bill Bergin, completed in 2023, involved reworking a large share of the layout's holes and took the course offline for stretches while the work was underway. A project of similar scope at Terrapin Point would likely follow the same pattern, closed play for a season or more rather than a quick touch-up.
Why do Redfin and Movoto disagree on whether The Landings is appreciating? They're measuring different things. A closed-sale median reflects what actually sold in a given month, which can skew toward renovated homes moving quickly near asking. A list-price median reflects everything currently for sale, including dated inventory sitting unsold. Both can be accurate readings of the same market at the same time.
The Landings rewards a buyer who asks about the golf course before the golf membership, and about the house's last renovation before its view. If you're weighing a specific campus against another coastal community and want someone who can walk the actual timeline with you, Marjorie Wester is happy to have that conversation. Let's Connect.
