Murfreesboro’s current Zillow ZHVI is $430,236, while Zillow ZORI is $1,687 a month. That produces a 4.7% gross yield before taxes, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, management, utilities, financing and other operating costs. The ZHVI slipped 0.3% year over year as ZORI rose 1.8%. The home value equals 5.37x ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 25.3% of that income; these are broad affordability screens, not a property cash-flow result.
The city has 66,400 housing units, of which 60,683 are occupied; its citywide vacancy rate is 8.6%, and renters occupy 47.6% of occupied units. Those stock measures describe overall tenure and vacancy, not immediately leasable homes. ACS reports a $402,100 median value for surveyed owner-occupied housing and $1,481 median gross rent for surveyed renter-occupied housing, including selected utilities. They differ in concept and period from Zillow’s typical value and observed market rent and should not be averaged.
Direct city depth is mixed: 53.2% of renters are cost-burdened, while single-family structures represent 62.0% of units and large multifamily structures 13.0%. Among vacant units, 40.7% are classified for rent, but this vacancy-reason share is survey context rather than available investment inventory. Population is 161,445, up 18.4% between overlapping ACS vintages; that change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $80,108, with poverty at 8.8% and unemployment at 4.3%; these are descriptive demand constraints, not causes or tenant-screening outcomes.
At the county level, Rutherford County had 19.5% of Realtor listings marked price-reduced, signaling some seller flexibility but not city transaction conditions. The broader Nashville metro had 4.4 months of supply, a market-balance indicator whose denominator covers the metro rather than Murfreesboro. The national Freddie Mac mortgage rate was 6.58%, which frames financing pressure nationally but does not determine a borrower’s quote or a property’s return.
The central limitation is the gap between citywide typicals or survey medians and the economics of a specific home. Before underwriting, verify the address-level purchase price, achievable contract rent and utility responsibility; taxes, insurance and hazard terms; association rules and fees; expected repairs, capital work and management; current occupancy and lease terms; and the loan quote. Compare those inputs without treating city vacancy, structure or burden shares as proof of leasing speed, condition or resale liquidity.