Memphis’s Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $146,746, and ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,280 monthly. They imply a 10.5% gross yield before operating costs, debt service, vacancy and capital spending—a screen, not a return. ZHVI is 2.84x ACS median household income; annualized ZORI is 29.7% of that income. ZHVI recently declined while ZORI edged upward, a divergence rather than a forecast.
The city has 289,887 housing units; renters occupy 55.1% of occupied units, while 12.7% of all units are vacant. This indicates a large renter base but cannot establish property-level lease-up. ACS reports a $169,000 median value for surveyed owner-occupied housing and $1,181 median gross rent for surveyed renter-occupied housing, including selected utilities. These ACS measures differ in concept and period from Zillow’s typical value and observed market rent; do not average or directly match them.
Rent pressure is material: 55.7% of city renters meet the ACS rent-burden measure. Single-family structures make up 64.6% of housing units, versus 8.7% in large multifamily structures. Among vacant units, 33.8% are classified as for rent; this reason share is survey context, not available investment inventory. The city population is 618,980, down 5.1% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; the change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $51,736, while poverty is 23.1% and unemployment is 8.3%. These citywide indicators describe demand constraints, not tenant quality, causation or submarket performance.
In Shelby County, the reported investor share is 23.4%, signaling meaningful investor participation but not city transaction composition. Shelby County’s reported property-tax rate is 0.975%, a county benchmark that cannot substitute for a parcel tax bill. In the broader Memphis metro, housing supply is 4 months, while payroll jobs declined 0.45% year over year; these metro measures suggest buyers have some choice alongside softer labor momentum, without measuring Memphis alone. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, framing financing costs rather than any borrower’s quote.
Headline yield is exposed to taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, utilities, turnover, delinquency, capital repairs and financing. Citywide vacancy and burden cannot validate a specific asset’s rentability or collections, while wider-geography trends cannot fill that gap. Verify the parcel’s asking price, legal use, condition, roof and systems, rent roll, leases, concessions, arrears, utility responsibility, tax assessment, insurance quote and hazard exposure. Compare realistic market rent and occupancy with operating statements, inspection findings, title and financing terms.