Castle Rock’s current Zillow measures frame the price-to-rent decision: ZHVI typical city home value is $672,668 and ZORI typical observed market rent is $2,493 a month. Their implied gross yield is 4.45%, calculated as annual ZORI divided by ZHVI before every operating cost. ZHVI equals 4.63x ACS median household income, while annual ZORI equals 20.61% of that income. Those affordability ratios compare city market indicators with surveyed income; they do not establish the economics or tenant affordability of a particular property.
The city has 29,159 housing units, with renter-occupied homes representing 21.23% of occupied units. The ACS median owner-reported home value is $652,900, and ACS median gross rent is $2,000 including contract rent plus selected utilities. These surveyed occupied-housing measures differ in definition and period from Zillow’s typical city home value and observed market rent, so they should remain separate rather than be averaged. Tenure describes the citywide stock, not the supply available to buy or rent now.
Direct city evidence shows 62.48% of renter households meet the ACS rent-burden threshold. Single-family homes are 81.48% of housing units and units in large multifamily structures are 7.79%; this mix does not identify purchasable inventory. ACS records 940 vacant units, of which 252 were for rent; vacancy reasons are survey context and do not show available investment inventory or prove fast leasing. Population is 79,123 versus 62,417 in overlapping ACS vintages, a 26.77% change that should not be annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $145,197, while poverty is 3.81% and unemployment is 4.36%; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causes of property performance.
The county data for Douglas County show a 47-day median listing time and 31.74% of listings price-reduced, useful for negotiation context but not city liquidity. Denver metro employment context was down 0.11% year over year, while Denver metro for-sale supply was 2.9 months; neither metro measure is a Castle Rock result. The national 30-year mortgage rate was 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a borrower quote.
Underwriting lacks property-specific purchase price, unit type, condition, lease terms, taxes, insurance, financing, maintenance, management, utilities, capital needs and legal constraints. Verify achievable rent with comparable units, inspect the asset, obtain insurance and tax quotes, price debt for the borrower, and review title and governing documents. Model vacancy, turnover, repairs, net operating income and cash flow rather than treating city gross yield or vacancy as a property return or leasing forecast.