Middletown’s current Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $266,121, while Zillow ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,272 a month. Their 5.7% gross yield is annual ZORI divided by ZHVI before vacancy, taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, financing, and capital work; it is not a net return. ZHVI equals 4.66x ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 26.7% of that income, framing citywide affordability rather than a specific borrower’s or tenant’s budget.
The city has 23,046 housing units, a 7.0% citywide vacancy rate, and renters in 46.0% of occupied units. These describe broad stock and tenure, not immediate availability. ACS’s surveyed occupied-housing medians are $164,400 for owner-reported home value and $1,007 for gross rent, which includes contract rent plus selected utilities. They differ in concept and period from Zillow’s typical city value and observed market rent; do not average them or read a direct spread.
City depth is mixed: 52.0% of renting households meet the rent-burden threshold, while single-family structures are 71.4% of units and large multifamily structures 4.5%. For-rent units are 19.5% of vacancies, a reason share rather than available investment inventory. Population is 6.2% higher across overlapping ACS vintages, not an annual rate and possibly affected by boundary change. Median household income is $57,102; poverty is 17.1% and unemployment 5.9%. These descriptive constraints cannot establish tenant quality, achievable property rent, leasing speed, or block-level conditions.
Butler County context shows a 33-day median listing time and price reductions on 14.8% of active listings. Warren County context separately shows a 40-day median listing time and reductions on 15.3%; neither county record measures the city alone. The broader Cincinnati metro context reports 2.4 months of supply and a 26.4% price-drop share, which informs regional negotiating conditions without defining Middletown. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a city borrowing quote.
Underwriting is limited by aggregates, overlapping survey vintages, measure mismatches, and geography: Middletown spans both county jurisdictions, whose records must remain separate. Verify the property’s county, parcel taxes, insurance and hazard terms, title, legal use, physical condition, deferred work, utilities, unit configuration, leases, concessions, arrears, and operating expenses. Obtain property-level rent comparables and vacancy history, then stress-test financing, turnover, maintenance, management, and capital reserves. City vacancy and renter share cannot prove that an asset will lease quickly.