Chapel Hill’s current Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $642,319, while ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,763 a month. This produces a 3.3% gross yield before every operating cost. The value equals 7.5x ACS median household income, and annualized ZORI equals 24.6% of that income. This frames a high entry price and limited gross income relative to value; it does not establish a property’s net return.
City tenure is renter-led: renters occupy 52.6% of occupied units, and the housing-stock vacancy rate is 10.1%. These are citywide stock measures, not lease-up evidence. ACS reports a $613,700 owner-reported median home value and $1,613 median gross rent for surveyed occupied housing, with gross rent including contract rent plus selected utilities. ACS and Zillow differ in measure and period, so their values and rents should not be averaged.
City depth is mixed. Among measured renter households, 60.8% meet the ACS 30%-plus rent-burden threshold. Single-family units are 55.0% of stock and large multifamily units 18.6%. Of vacant units, 35.1% are classified for rent. Population rose 1.0% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; this is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $85,989, poverty is 18.6%, and unemployment is 4.5%. These are descriptive: burden, structure and vacancy-reason shares do not measure available investment inventory, while poverty and unemployment do not prove causes of rental performance.
Durham County county records show a 0.794% property-tax rate; this is Durham County context, not a city measure. Orange County county records separately show a 0.906% property-tax rate, also not a city measure. The broader Durham, NC metro recorded a 0.7% year-over-year job decline and 3 months of supply, framing regional conditions without measuring Chapel Hill alone. The national Freddie Mac thirty-year mortgage rate was 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a local return.
Underwriting is limited by citywide averages, ACS sampling and timing differences, plus county or metro context that cannot identify an address-level outcome. Before bidding, confirm the parcel’s county and obtain the tax bill, insurance and hazard quotes, HOA restrictions and dues, legal rental status, leases, utility responsibility, and unit-level rent and sale comparables. Inspect condition and capital needs; test vacancy, turnover, management and maintenance costs; and price property-specific financing. Recalculate net cash flow and debt coverage rather than relying on gross yield.