In Cedar Rapids, Zillow’s current typical city home value is $215,210 and its typical observed market rent is $1,288 a month. Those measures imply a 7.18% gross yield, calculated as annual ZORI divided by ZHVI and before taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, financing, vacancy and capital work. The ZHVI is 3.06x city median household income, while annual ZORI equals 21.94% of that income. This is an initial affordability and revenue frame, not a property cash-flow estimate.
The city has 64,423 housing units, with a citywide vacancy rate of 7.87%; renters occupy 31.49% of occupied units. The ACS surveyed occupied-housing measures show a $187,100 median home value and $967 median gross rent, and the ACS median year built is 1974. ACS gross rent includes contract rent plus selected utilities, whereas Zillow tracks a typical observed market rent; ACS owner-reported value likewise differs in measure and period from ZHVI. Neither pair should be averaged or treated as directly interchangeable.
Direct city depth shows that 45.21% of renter households are rent-burdened, 66.38% of housing units are single-family, and 9.69% are in large multifamily buildings. Among vacant units, 41.25% are categorized as for rent. Population is 137,264, up 3.75% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; that change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $70,424, while the poverty rate is 10.84% and the unemployment rate is 3.62%. These citywide survey facts describe demand constraints and stock composition, but they neither establish causation nor show available investment inventory or whether a particular unit will lease quickly.
Linn County county context reports a 43-day median market time, a 10.22% price-reduced share and a 1.66% property-tax rate; the county rate is not a parcel tax bill, and county selling context does not measure city liquidity. The broader Cedar Rapids metro reports jobs down 2.13% over its stated annual interval and 1.3 months of supply; metro indicators should not be substituted for city outcomes. The national Freddie Mac mortgage rate is 6.58%; this national financing benchmark is not a borrower quote.
The largest underwriting gaps are property-specific: actual asking price, achievable unit rent, lease terms, physical condition, deferred maintenance, utility responsibility and recurring expenses. Verify parcel taxes, insurance and hazard exposure, zoning and permit status, title, association rules, comparable leases, tenant history and local management pricing. Then stress-test vacancy, turnover, repairs, capital reserves and the lender’s live quote. Without those checks, the gross-yield frame cannot establish net operating income, debt coverage or total return.