Windward Ranch, St. Augustine

Market snapshot

Twenty-seven closings were recorded at a median of $520,000 and about $203 a square foot. Homes averaged 51 days on market with 1.8 months of supply, classified in the source as a strong seller's market, and the median was down only about 2% on the year. Fast sales, thin supply and a flat median together describe one of the steadier neighbourhoods in this dataset.

Market figures above are aggregated community sales data taken from the public community-data index published at the website movewithmomentum.com (an unaffiliated third party), dataset generated 2026-07-13, reflecting sales as of 2026-07-09. Figures are area aggregates, not an appraisal or a valuation of any individual home, and they change as new sales record. HOA dues, CDD fees and property taxes are NOT shown here: the only figures available for them are modelled estimates rather than recorded amounts. Ask The Parham Team for the current recorded numbers before you rely on them.

Where it is

Open Windward Ranch in Google Maps

What to check before you buy here

Gated communities carry association fees that cover gates, roads and amenities — ask what the reserve study says, not just what the monthly fee is, because an underfunded reserve becomes a special assessment. Get the CDD figure separately, and ask whether the association has any pending litigation or planned capital project.

Windward Ranch is deed-restricted, which is a different animal from a simple HOA. Read the covenants before you assume you can park a boat in the driveway, put up a fence the association doesn't like, or paint the house a color that isn't on the approved list. The architectural review committee has to sign off on exterior changes, and enforcement varies by association — ask how many violation notices went out in the past year, not just what the rulebook says.

Separate the HOA fee from the CDD assessment before you compare Windward Ranch to a non-restricted community down the road. The HOA fee covers what you'd expect — the gate, common-area landscaping and community amenities — and shows up as a regular bill. A Community Development District (CDD) assessment, if one applies to this section of Windward Ranch, is a public financing mechanism that shows up as a non-ad valorem line on the county tax bill rather than the HOA statement, and it can run for decades until the bonds are retired. Ask for both figures separately, in writing, before you calculate a real monthly number — a listing price alone won't tell you what this address actually costs to carry.

We'll tell you the same thing here we'd tell a Putnam County buyer: a reserve study that hasn't been updated in years is a red flag, not a formality. If the association's reserves are underfunded, the shortfall doesn't disappear — it becomes a special assessment on every owner, often with short notice. Ask for the most recent reserve study, the current reserve balance, and whether any special assessment has been discussed or voted on in the past two years.

Source: pull the current non-ad valorem CDD assessment and recorded property tax figures for the exact parcel from the St. Johns County Property Appraiser, and confirm the zoned elementary, middle, and high school for that address with the St. Johns County School Zone Lookup — both should be verified address-by-address before you write an offer.

Who Windward Ranch fits

Windward Ranch fits a buyer who wants a larger, deed-restricted lot with architectural controls and is willing to pay HOA dues and follow covenant rules in exchange for consistent landscaping and a gate. It's a match if a straightforward commute into St. Augustine matters more than beach proximity, and if you'd rather have an association enforcing exterior standards than the flexibility to add a shed, boat, or non-standard fence without approval. It's a tougher fit for a buyer who wants that flexibility, or who'd rather put the HOA dollars toward acreage and a well and septic system back home in Putnam County instead.

The value-durability read: Windward Ranch against Putnam County

We work Putnam County day in and day out, and we also cover inland and southern St. Johns County, so a Windward Ranch buyer gets an honest outside comparison from us, not just a St. Augustine sales pitch. St. Johns County's overall home values read $492,885 as of the June 2026 data release, against $219,440 in Putnam County — more than double. That premium buys proximity to St. Augustine's historic district, the beaches and St. Johns County schools, and it has generally held up over time: St. Johns County home values are up about 4.4% over five years, close to Putnam's 4.0%. But look at just the past year and the picture flips — St. Johns County is down about 2.7% while Putnam is up 1.1%. Windward Ranch's own numbers echo that: the community's median sale price fell about 2% on the year, even with fast sales and thin supply. None of that makes Windward Ranch a bad buy. It means the extra cost of being in St. Johns County doesn't automatically insulate a buyer from a softening market, and a buyer who wants comfort should ask what actually held value in this specific community over the last cycle, not just what the county averages say.

Windward Ranch also sits inside a genuine growth corridor. St. Johns County's population has grown about 24.1% since 2018 to roughly 292,243 people, per the same dataset, and that growth is concentrated along the I-95 corridor west and south of St. Augustine, not inside the historic district itself. New rooftops nearby mean more competition for a resale buyer's attention, but they also mean more schools, retail and services arriving in step with demand — infrastructure a stalled or shrinking county doesn't get. Judge Windward Ranch by what's actually built and funded nearby, not by a builder's rendering of what's coming next.

Who tends to buy in Windward Ranch

The larger lots and gated setting tend to draw relocating families and move-up buyers who want more room than the newer, tighter-lot construction going up nearer I-95, without giving up a straightforward commute into St. Augustine. It isn't a waterfront or beach-specialist product — it's a rooted, deed-restricted subdivision that trades a monthly fee for consistent landscaping, controlled architecture and a gate. If your priority is resale predictability over amenity variety, that trade tends to work in a buyer's favor; if you want the flexibility to add a shed, an RV pad or a non-standard fence, get the covenants in hand before you write an offer.

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