Fort Lauderdale’s current city Zillow ZHVI is $511,582, while ZORI is $2,794 a month. That produces a 6.6% gross yield, calculated as annual ZORI divided by ZHVI, before every operating cost, vacancy loss, financing expense and tax. ZHVI is down 3.1% year over year while ZORI is up 3.2%. Entry affordability is demanding: ZHVI equals 6.15x ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 40.3% of that income.
The city has 101,691 housing units; 45.9% of occupied units are renter-occupied, and the citywide vacancy rate is 20.3%. ACS reports a $486,700 median value for surveyed owner-occupied homes and $1,854 median gross rent for surveyed renter-occupied housing, including selected utilities. Those ACS measures differ in surveyed population, period and definition from Zillow’s typical city home value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as competing quotes.
Direct city depth is mixed. Among renters for whom burden is calculated, 58.1% spend at least 30% of income on gross rent. Single-family homes are 39.2% of city housing units and large multifamily buildings are 37.6%. Of vacant units, 12,715 are seasonal and 2,797 are for rent, showing why headline vacancy is not an availability measure. Population increased 3.0% between overlapping ACS vintages, subject to possible boundary changes; this is neither annual growth nor an event count for the interval. Median household income is $83,130, poverty is 15.0%, and unemployment is 5.3%. These citywide survey facts describe demand constraints and stock composition, but cannot establish lease speed, achievable rent, unit condition or purchasable inventory.
The county context for Broward County shows a 0.94% effective property-tax rate, a cost input that still requires parcel verification. The broader Miami metro posted a 0.3% year-over-year job decline, which tempers demand assumptions but does not measure Fort Lauderdale employment. The national Freddie Mac thirty-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, setting financing context rather than a city borrowing quote.
Underwriting remains limited because city Zillow and ACS aggregates, county records, metro indicators and the national financing benchmark do not provide a property’s purchase price, legal use, rent roll, operating history or physical risk. Before acting, verify the address-level asking price and comparable leases; taxes, insurance quotations, flood and wind exposure; association dues and restrictions; utility responsibility; inspection findings, reserves and planned assessments; licensing and occupancy rules; financing terms; and a vacancy and expense stress test. Gross yield should be rebuilt from property-specific rent and all recurring and capital costs.