Zillow's current typical city home value is $422,872, and its typical observed monthly market rent is $1,694. Annualizing that rent against that value gives a 4.8% gross yield before every operating cost, financing, vacancy loss and capital expense. The value equals 6.34x city median household income, while annual Zillow rent equals 30.5% of that income. Those affordability ratios frame scale rather than borrower qualification or a property's achievable economics.
City housing context is broad: among 62,836 housing units, renters account for 52.4% of occupied units, while the citywide vacancy rate is 9.9%. These shares show tenure and stock conditions, not how fast a selected unit will lease. ACS reports a $383,800 median value for surveyed owner-occupied housing and $1,395 median gross rent for surveyed occupied rentals, including selected utilities. Those ACS measures differ in concept and period from Zillow's typical value and observed market rent; they should not be averaged.
Direct city depth adds important constraints. ACS shows 56.4% of renter households are rent-burdened; the stock is 56.5% single-family and 15.1% large multifamily. Among vacant units, 24.6% were for rent and 23.3% seasonal, reason shares that do not identify available investment inventory. Population rose 0.5% between overlapping ACS vintages, a nonannualized comparison that may reflect boundary changes. Median household income is $66,738; poverty is 16.0% and unemployment is 4.3%. These city indicators describe demand constraints but cannot establish a property's tenant quality, achievable rent or leasing speed.
At the county scope, New Hanover County listings show a 62-day median market time and a 19.7% price-reduced share, useful for marketing and negotiation context but not a city transaction benchmark. At the metro scope, the broader Wilmington, NC metro had 2.6% job growth and 3.9 months of supply; these inform demand and liquidity context without measuring city inventory or a property's prospects. At the national scope, the national 30-year mortgage rate was 6.58%, a financing input rather than a Wilmington price measure.
Underwriting remains limited by citywide aggregation and broader context. The headline gross yield excludes taxes, insurance, management, maintenance, utilities, concessions, turnover, financing and capital work. Before acting, verify the property's purchase terms, legal use, physical condition, flood and other hazard exposure, insurance and tax quotes, association obligations and utility responsibility. Then test unit-level rent and concessions with current comparable listings, review leases and collections, inspect major systems, and build scenario cash flows that include vacancy and replacement reserves.