Johnstown's current Zillow ZHVI, a typical city home value, is $104,495, while Zillow ZORI, a typical observed city market rent, is $864 per month. The resulting gross yield is 9.9% before every operating cost. The ZHVI equals 2.8x ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 27.4% of that ACS income, setting an affordability frame rather than a property cash-flow result.
Citywide ACS data show a 23.2% vacancy rate and a 44.8% renter share, useful housing-stock and tenure context but not evidence that a particular rental will lease. The ACS median home value is $45,400 and its median gross rent is $644, including contract rent plus selected utilities. These surveyed occupied-housing measures are distinct from Zillow's current market-oriented ZHVI and ZORI, so they should not be averaged or read as the same period.
ACS reports single-family homes account for 70.0% of city housing units, versus 9.4% in large multifamily structures. Among renters, 43.0% have a rent burden of 30% or more. ACS identifies 220 vacant units for rent and 90 for sale, but these vacancy categories neither measure investment inventory nor prove lease-up for a particular unit. Population is 18,087 compared with 19,569 across overlapping ACS vintages, a 7.6% decline that cannot be annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $37,888, poverty is 31.9%, and unemployment is 6.2%; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causal explanations.
In Cambria County, the county property-tax rate is 1.23%, a recurring expense to model separately from the city's pre-cost yield. The broader Johnstown metro had 2.9 months of supply, 32.0% of listings with price drops, and a 1.0% year-over-year job decline; these metro conditions are not city sales or employment measures. The national mortgage rate was 6.69%, so national financing costs can affect buyer and refinance assumptions.
The headline gross yield excludes taxes, insurance, repairs, utilities, management, turnover, capital work and financing, while city aggregates cannot reveal building condition, achieved rents or tenant payment performance. Before a decision, verify the parcel tax bill and assessment, insurance and hazard quotes, zoning or use, title and liens, inspection of major systems, utility responsibility, current lease ledger and comparable achieved rents. Test those property facts against realistic vacancy, renovation and operating assumptions rather than citywide medians or wider context.