At the city level, Zillow ZHVI puts the typical home value at $342,429, down 2.8% year over year; Zillow ZORI puts typical observed market rent at $2,788 monthly, up 3.3%. Dividing annual ZORI by ZHVI gives a 9.8% gross yield before every operating cost. ZHVI is 4.17x ACS median household income, while annual ZORI equals 40.8% of that income. This frames top-line rent relative to value alongside affordability pressure; neither measure establishes property-level rent, financing terms or net cash flow.
City ACS context covers 37,427 housing units, with a 20.0% vacancy rate; renters occupy 36.8% of occupied units. ACS also reports a $420,300 owner-reported median home value and $1,961 median gross rent for surveyed occupied housing, with gross rent including contract rent and selected utilities. Those ACS measures differ in definition and period from Zillow's typical city value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or substituted for one another.
City ACS rent burden reaches 59.6%. Single-family structures comprise 47.3% of housing units and large multifamily structures 22.6%. Of vacant units, 58.4% are seasonal and 19.6% are for rent, showing why headline vacancy is not equivalent to rental availability. Population edged down 0.3% between overlapping ACS vintages; this is not an annual rate, and boundary changes may contribute. Median household income is $82,041, while poverty is 13.0% and unemployment 5.8%. These citywide survey facts describe demand constraints and stock, but cannot prove tenant depth, leasing speed or property condition.
Palm Beach County county listings had a median 77 days on market and 16.0% with price reductions, useful as broader liquidity and negotiation context but not city timing. The Miami metro recorded a 0.3% job decline over its supplied interval, cautioning against assuming metro employment growth and not directly measuring Delray Beach demand. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate was 6.58%, a national financing benchmark rather than a city borrower quote.
Main underwriting gaps are property-specific taxes, insurance and climate exposure, association charges, maintenance, utilities, management, financing and achievable rent. Verify title and association rules, physical condition and major-system age, hazard and insurance quotes, tax treatment, comparable signed leases, current competing listings and realistic vacancy and concessions. Then build a property-level cash-flow case with reserves and lender terms. City vacancy, renter share and rent burden are screening context only, not evidence that a chosen unit will lease quickly or produce the headline yield.