Columbia’s Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $232,810, while ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,478 a month. That pairing implies a 7.6% gross yield before every operating cost; it is not a net return. The typical value equals 4.19x ACS median household income, while annualized ZORI equals 31.9% of that income; these mixed-source screens flag affordability pressure but are not borrower or tenant underwriting.
The ACS city record counts 62,021 housing units, with 14.4% vacant and renters occupying 54.5% of occupied units. Its median home value of $264,300 and median gross rent of $1,204 describe surveyed occupied housing, with gross rent including selected utilities; they differ in measure and period from Zillow and should not be averaged.
Citywide, 60.0% of renter households meet the ACS rent-burden threshold, while 24.3% of vacant units are classified as for rent; neither measure shows that a specific unit will lease quickly or that vacancy categories are investable supply. The stock is 55.1% single-family and 18.8% large multifamily, but those shares likewise do not identify available inventory. Population is 139,643, up 4.8% between overlapping ACS vintages, not an annual rate or a period event count, and boundary changes may affect the comparison. Median household income is $55,529; poverty is 24.0% and unemployment 7.5%, descriptive demand constraints rather than causes.
In Lexington County, Realtor median days on market is 43 days; that county figure does not measure Columbia alone. In Richland County, the separate Realtor median is 41 days; that county figure also does not measure Columbia alone. The broader Columbia metro shows 0.26% year-over-year job growth and recorded 8,380 building permits in the supplied period; both are metro context, not city demand or inventory. The national Freddie Mac thirty-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a local property quote.
Main limitations are that gross yield omits taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, turnover, utilities, financing and property-specific vacancy, while ACS and Zillow differ in concepts and timing. For any address, confirm county jurisdiction, purchase price, achievable lease rent and utility responsibility, taxes, insurance and hazard exposure, association terms, condition and capital needs, title, tenant status and financing; then build property-level cash flow and stress-test vacancy and repairs.