Scranton’s current Zillow snapshot frames the buy-and-rent arithmetic: ZHVI puts the typical city home value at $205,566, while ZORI puts typical observed market rent at $1,315 monthly. Their direct gross yield is 7.7%, before vacancy, repairs, management, taxes, insurance, utilities, financing and capital work. The Zillow value equals 4.1x ACS median household income, and annual ZORI equals 31.1% of that income; these are broad affordability screens, not a property budget or tenant-level underwriting.
The city has 35,512 housing units, a 14.8% citywide vacancy rate, and a 50.1% renter share of occupied units, giving broad stock and tenure context rather than property performance. ACS reports a $158,100 median value for surveyed owner-occupied homes and $1,048 median gross rent, including selected utilities. These occupied-housing measures differ in definition and period from Zillow’s typical city value and observed market rent; they should never be combined or averaged.
Structure mix also matters: single-family homes represent 59.3% of city units, versus 8.2% in large multifamily properties. Among measured city renter households, 52.1% spend at least 30% of income on rent. Of vacant city units, 17.6% are classified for rent; ACS separately records for-sale, seasonal and other reasons, but none measures investable inventory or property-level lease-up. City population is 76,033, down 1.3% between overlapping ACS vintages; the change is not annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $50,739; the poverty rate is 23.0% and unemployment rate 5.4%, descriptive demand constraints that cannot establish collectability or causation.
The county record for Lackawanna County shows a 45-day median listing time and 17.3% price-reduced share, negotiating context rather than a city measure. The broader Scranton, PA metro had 2.3 months of supply and 0.09% year-over-year job growth; both metro figures apply to the metro, not the city. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate was 6.58%, a national financing benchmark rather than a borrower quote. County listing conditions, metro supply and employment, and national financing can shape underwriting without determining a property’s result.
Aggregation is the central limitation: city Zillow and ACS, county records, metro data and national financing do not describe the same property or period. Before bidding, verify legal use, title, taxes, insurance and hazard terms; inspect condition and deferred maintenance; obtain leases, rent roll and payment history; confirm utilities and achievable rent; and model vacancy, management, repairs, reserves, financing and exit costs. Use property-type and condition-matched comparables, not citywide shares as inventory or county and metro trends as guarantees.