Marion’s Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $281,616 and its Zillow ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,278 a month. The rent-to-value arithmetic gives a 5.4% gross yield before every operating cost. The ZHVI is 3.2x the city’s ACS median household income of $86,743, while annual ZORI equals 17.7% of that income. Rent growth exceeded home-value growth year over year, but this relative move alone does not establish future performance.
The city has 18,029 housing units, with a 6.2% citywide vacancy rate and a 22.6% renter share among occupied units. ACS reports a $961 median gross rent, covering contract rent plus selected utilities in surveyed occupied housing; Zillow ZORI is instead a typical observed market rent. Likewise, ACS median home value and Zillow ZHVI are separate measures with different populations and methods, so neither should be averaged with the other. The tenure and vacancy figures describe citywide stock, not the leasing prospects of any unit.
Among city renters, 54.5% are rent burdened at 30% or more of income. The city’s structure mix is 74.7% single-family units and 5.2% large multifamily units. Of vacant city units, 39.3% are classified as for rent and 6.7% as for sale. These ACS burden, structure, and vacancy-reason shares describe survey context, not investment inventory or immediate availability. The population is 41,896 compared with 39,328 in overlapping ACS vintages, a 6.5% change that may reflect boundary changes as well as population differences. City income measures should also be read alongside an 8.1% poverty rate and 3.6% unemployment rate; these are descriptive constraints, not causal evidence of demand for a specific property, tenant quality, or lease-up speed.
At the county level, Linn County’s 1.7% property-tax rate is a recurring-cost input, not a Marion tax bill. In the Cedar Rapids metro, jobs declined 2.1% year over year, a metro labor condition rather than city employment evidence. The national 30-year mortgage rate is 6.7%, a financing benchmark rather than a local borrower’s quote.
Main limitations are no subject-property condition, acquisition price, tax bill, insurance, financing terms, utility responsibility, repairs, turnover, or lease comparables. Confirm parcel assessment, flood and insurance exposure, zoning, HOA or rental restrictions, inspection findings, rent roll or rental comps, and demand for the property’s size and condition. The city gross yield is only a screening calculation: it excludes vacancy loss, taxes, insurance, management, maintenance, capital work, and debt service.