Bismarck’s current Zillow ZHVI is $381,727, a typical city home value, while ZORI is $1,372, a typical observed monthly market rent. Their implied city gross yield is 4.3%, before every operating cost and financing. Annual ZHVI and ZORI growth were 5.5% and 4.1%, respectively. Against ACS median household income of $78,387, the value is 4.87x income and annual ZORI is 21.0% of income; these are broad affordability screens, not a borrower payment or tenant qualification test.
Citywide vacancy was 6.3%, while renters occupied 34.5% of occupied units; neither establishes property-level absorption. ACS reports a $300,300 median value for surveyed occupied owner housing and $999 median gross rent for surveyed renter housing. ACS gross rent includes contract rent plus selected utilities. Those ACS measures cover concepts and periods different from Zillow’s typical market series, so they should neither replace the Zillow inputs nor be averaged with them.
Direct city survey context shows 39.6% of renter households were rent-burdened. Single-family homes make up 57.9% of housing units and large multifamily buildings 17.2%; this structure mix does not quantify purchasable inventory. Among vacant units, 37.1% were classified for rent, a vacancy-reason share rather than available inventory. Population moved from 72,777 to 75,556 across overlapping ACS vintages, a 3.8% change that is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. The city poverty rate is 9.3% and unemployment rate is 2.5%. With city income, these describe demand and labor constraints but not tenant quality, unit rent or leasing speed.
Burleigh County context reports a Realtor median market time of 44 days; this county measure frames transaction pace, not city inventory. The Bismarck metro reports 2.4 months of supply and 0.3% annual job growth; these metro measures provide broader market and labor context, not Bismarck-only conditions. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.66%; this national benchmark can differ from an actual quote based on property, leverage and borrower.
Underwriting is limited by aggregate measures, mismatched periods and absent property expense or condition data. Before acting, verify achievable rent through current comparable leases, terms and concessions; physical condition and near-term capital needs; taxes, insurance and hazard exposure; and owner-paid utilities, association fees, management, maintenance, turnover and vacancy assumptions. Obtain a live financing quote, then rebuild net operating income, cash flow and downside cases rather than treating gross yield as return.