Dubuque's current Zillow ZHVI is $253,886 and its Zillow ZORI is $1,110 per month, implying a 5.2% gross yield before every operating cost. ZHVI rose 5.5% year over year while ZORI rose 3.6%, so the value measure increased faster than the rent measure over the supplied period. Against city ACS median household income of $65,845, ZHVI equals 3.9x income and annual ZORI equals 20.2% of income. Those affordability comparisons are screening ratios, not borrower qualification or a property cash-flow result.
The city has 27,832 housing units, with a 6.1% citywide vacancy rate; renters occupy 34.2% of occupied units. This establishes meaningful rental tenure, but citywide vacancy cannot predict lease-up for a particular unit. ACS reports an owner-reported median home value of $204,800 and median gross rent of $948, including selected utilities. Those surveyed occupied-housing measures differ in definition and period from Zillow's typical home value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as directly interchangeable.
Direct city indicators show 48.6% of renter households are rent burdened. Single-family homes represent 67.1% of all housing units and large multifamily properties 8.4%, describing structure mix rather than purchasable inventory. Of vacant units, 13.7% are recorded as for rent; for-sale and seasonal vacancies also exist, so total vacancy is not an availability count. Population increased 1.7% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a comparison that is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. The city median-income benchmark accompanies a 12.7% poverty rate and 4.5% unemployment rate; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causes or tenant-level outcomes.
Dubuque County context shows a 1.23% property-tax rate and a 12.1% investor share, useful county-level expense and buyer-mix inputs that do not measure Dubuque city properties directly. The Dubuque, IA metro recorded -1.8% job growth and 2.1 months of supply; the metro figures frame labor and resale conditions but do not establish city performance. The national 30-year mortgage rate was 6.66%, a national financing benchmark rather than a quote for any borrower.
Underwriting is limited by gross, citywide and survey measures: no property price, achievable rent, taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance, management, capital spending, financing or downtime is specified. Verify the rent roll and comparable leases; building systems; title, zoning and permitted use; actual county tax bill; insurer quote; utility responsibility; repair and management assumptions; vacancy and collection history; and lender terms. Recalculate net operating income, debt service and reserves from property records, not city, county, metro or national context.