Fayetteville’s current Zillow ZHVI is $385,227, a typical city home value, while Zillow ZORI is $1,720, a typical observed monthly market rent. Their implied gross yield is 5.4%, calculated as annual ZORI divided by ZHVI before every operating and financing cost; it is not a net return. ZHVI equals 6.1x the ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 32.9% of that income, signaling a meaningful affordability constraint without describing any specific buyer or tenant.
The ACS counts 45,303 city housing units. Renters occupy 58.2% of occupied units, and the city vacancy rate is 9.4% across all housing units; neither measure predicts lease-up for a particular property. ACS reports a $349,600 median home value and $1,065 median gross rent for surveyed occupied housing, with gross rent including selected utilities. These ACS measures have different concepts and periods from Zillow’s typical market measures and should not be averaged or treated as direct comparables.
Direct city depth is mixed. Some 49.2% of measured renter households are rent-burdened, while single-family units represent 55.4% of housing units and large multifamily units 12.0%. Among vacant units, 23.2% are classified as for rent, a vacancy-reason share rather than available investment inventory. Population was 16.6% higher across the two overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a comparison that is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $62,695; poverty is 20.6% and unemployment is 4.0%. These are descriptive demand constraints, not causes, and they cannot reveal unit quality, achievable rent or tenant depth at a specific address.
At the county scope, Washington County listings had a median 58 days on market and 17.5% had price reductions, useful negotiation context that does not measure Fayetteville alone. At the metro scope, Fayetteville, AR jobs grew 2.6% over the reported annual period, while the metro had 3.4 months of supply and a 98.4% sale-to-list ratio; each uses a metro denominator. At the national scope, the 30-year mortgage rate was 6.7%, a financing backdrop rather than a local housing measure.
The central limitation is aggregation: citywide typical values, rents and survey shares can hide property-level variation, while county, metro and national records use wider geographies and different denominators. Before underwriting, verify the specific purchase price, attainable rent and lease terms; property taxes, insurance and hazard exposure; utilities, maintenance, capital needs and management; financing terms, vacancy assumptions, concessions and exit costs. Check recent comparable leases and sales, title, zoning, inspections and any association rules rather than treating the headline gross yield as cash flow.