Wilmington’s supplied Zillow snapshot puts the typical city home value at $335,577 and typical observed monthly market rent at $1,872. Annualizing that rent against value gives a 6.7% gross yield before vacancy, taxes, insurance, maintenance, management, capital work and financing. The home value equals 5.7x the ACS median household income, while annualized Zillow rent equals 38.3% of that income. Those cross-source affordability ratios are screening tools, not household budgets or property cash flows.
The ACS describes 35,514 city housing units, with renters occupying 52.0% of occupied stock and 10.9% of all units vacant. Its surveyed occupied-housing measures are a $231,400 median home value and $1,224 median gross rent, which includes contract rent plus selected utilities. They are not interchangeable with Zillow’s typical-value and observed-market-rent series because concepts and periods differ. A median year built of 1946 makes physical condition, systems and deferred maintenance central to underwriting, without establishing any specific property’s age or condition.
Citywide, 52.2% of renter households are rent-burdened. Single-family structures make up 63.2% of housing units and large multifamily structures 19.6%. Among vacant units, 830 are classified for rent, or 21.5% of vacancies; this survey category is not a count of investable listings. Population rose from 70,644 to 71,727, a 1.5% change between overlapping ACS five-year vintages that should not be annualized and may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $58,671, while poverty is 21.4% and unemployment 7.3%. Together these describe demand constraints and stock, but cannot establish tenant quality, achievable rent or lease-up speed for a property.
New Castle County county context reports a Zillow typical home value of $374,569; this county benchmark does not measure Wilmington. New Castle County county listings context shows a median marketing time of 36 days, which informs wider resale conditions but not a city property’s sale timing. The national Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is 6.58%, a national financing benchmark rather than an available borrower quote.
Underwriting is limited by aggregates, mixed source definitions, survey uncertainty and missing parcel, unit, lease and expense data. Before acting, verify address-level sale and rent comparables; leases, concessions and utility responsibility; occupancy and legal unit count; inspection findings and system life; zoning, permits and code compliance; parcel taxes; insurance pricing and hazard exclusions; title; management costs; realistic vacancy and turnover; and financing terms. Rebuild net operating income and debt coverage from property-specific inputs rather than treating gross yield as a return.