Paterson’s Zillow ZHVI typical home value is $541,017 and its Zillow ZORI typical observed market rent is $1,941 monthly. That pairing implies a 4.3% gross yield before every operating cost. The home value equals 9.7x ACS median household income, while annual ZORI equals 41.6% of that income. This frames a high affordability hurdle and a limited unlevered income cushion, not a return estimate.
The city has 52,519 housing units; 73.1% are renter-occupied and citywide vacancy is 5.1%. Its ACS median owner-reported home value is $360,100, while ACS median gross rent is $1,548, including selected utilities. Those surveyed occupied-housing measures differ in method and period from Zillow’s typical value and observed market rent, so they should not be averaged or treated as transaction comps. Tenure and vacancy describe the citywide stock, not a particular building’s leasing prospects.
Direct city depth shows 59.4% of renter households have rent burden at or above 30%. Single-family homes form 20.1% of the housing stock and large multifamily buildings 13.6%. Of vacant city units, 34.5% are categorized for rent. Population is 158,735, up 8.9% between overlapping ACS five-year vintages; the change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $55,997, while poverty is 21.2% and unemployment is 10.7%. These are descriptive demand constraints, not causal proof. Structure, rent-burden and vacancy-reason shares do not identify available inventory or unit-level demand.
Passaic County’s county context shows median days on market of 31 and active listings of 633, indicating broader resale conditions rather than Paterson liquidity. Passaic County’s county property-tax rate is 2.18% and county climate loss ratio is 0.16%, both material expense or risk inputs but not parcel quotes. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, a financing benchmark rather than a borrower-specific offer.
Underwriting remains limited by citywide typicals and surveys: none provides purchase condition, unit mix, legal rents, collections, concessions, utilities, insurance, maintenance, taxes, flood exposure, or renovation needs for a target asset. Next, obtain the parcel tax bill and insurance quote; inspect structure and systems; verify leases, arrears, tenant-paid utilities and permitted occupancy; and run debt-service and operating-cost scenarios against actual purchase terms. Confirm local compliance and title before relying on the headline yield.