Framingham’s current Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $682,124, and its ZORI typical observed market rent is $2,360 a month. Their 4.2% gross yield—annual ZORI divided by ZHVI—is before taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management, and financing. ZHVI is 6.4x ACS median household income; annual ZORI is 26.4% of that income. These are citywide affordability benchmarks, not subject-property cash flow.
ACS counts 27,918 housing units, with a 4.0% vacancy rate; renters occupy 45.2% of occupied units. Its $627,300 median home value and $2,033 monthly median gross rent, which includes contract rent and selected utilities, describe surveyed occupied housing. They are not the same measure or period as Zillow’s typical home value and observed market rent, so the ACS and Zillow figures should not be averaged.
City survey context shows 53.4% of renter households spending at least 30% of income on rent. The stock is 57.0% single-family and 19.6% large multifamily. Of vacant units, 39.1% are for rent and 161 are seasonal; these ACS reason shares do not measure available investment inventory or a specific unit’s leasing speed. The population change is 0.13% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages, a comparison that should not be annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $107,419; unemployment is 4.8% and poverty is 10.4%. These are citywide demand constraints, not causal evidence of rental performance.
In Middlesex County, the FHFA house-price index increased 45.6% over five years; this is a county trend, not a city price measure. In the broader Boston metro, employment fell 0.8% year over year; this is metro labor context, not a city result. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate was 6.69%, a national financing benchmark rather than a city borrowing quote.
Main limitations are aggregation and measure mismatch: ZHVI and ZORI cannot establish the purchase price, achieved rent, condition, or costs of a particular home, and ACS vacancy, burden, and structure data do not identify an available asset. Before underwriting, verify property-specific comparable sales and leases, legal unit count and use, current occupancy and lease terms, utility responsibility, property-tax assessment and bill, insurance and hazard history, deferred maintenance and capital needs, HOA obligations, title, and financing terms.