At current Zillow city measures, Houston’s typical home value is $265,010 and typical observed market rent is $1,567 a month, implying a 7.1% gross yield. Gross yield is annual rent divided by value before every operating cost and financing. The typical value equals 4.09x the ACS median household income, while annualized Zillow rent equals 29.0% of that income. These toplines support initial screening, not a price, rent or cash-flow forecast.
Houston has 1,040,576 housing units; 10.6% are vacant, and renters occupy 57.9% of occupied units. These shares describe citywide stock and tenure, not asset-level leasing. ACS surveyed occupied housing reports a $277,800 median home value and $1,361 median gross rent, including contract rent plus selected utilities. They differ in concept and period from Zillow measures and must not be averaged or used to validate an asking rent.
City depth is mixed: 54.1% of renter households spend at least 30% of income on rent, while single-family units are 47.6% of all units and units in large multifamily structures are 27.0%. Among vacancies, 54.9% are for rent, but this survey category neither measures available investment inventory nor proves quick lease-up. Population rose 0.8% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; the change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $64,813; poverty is 19.9% and unemployment 6.9%. These are descriptive demand constraints, not causes of property performance.
County costs differ across the incorporated place: Fort Bend County’s supplied property-tax rate is 1.86%; Harris County’s is 1.623%; Montgomery County’s is 1.522%; and Waller County’s is 1.27%. In broader Houston, TX metro context, housing supply is 4.2 months; it does not measure Houston city inventory. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, providing financing context rather than a city borrowing quote. The county, broader-metro and national measures have different geographies and denominators and cannot be blended with city measures.
The main limitation is aggregation: city Zillow typicals and ACS surveys, separate county records, broader-metro indicators and a national rate cannot establish asset income or expenses. At the address, verify county and taxing jurisdictions; tax bill and reassessment basis; insurability, hazards and premiums; achievable rent, concessions and utility responsibility; condition and near-term capital work; HOA or deed restrictions; and vacancy, turnover, management and repair assumptions. Recalculate cash flow and debt coverage from the purchase price and loan quote, not the city gross yield.