Buchanan County presents a valuation-versus-carrying-cost tension: the Zillow county median home value was $196,537 in 2026-06, up 7.20%, while median asking rent was $1,062 per month and the reported gross yield was 6.48% before costs. This merits property-level investigation for buyers who can verify durable rent and insurance, but caution for those relying on appreciation. The 2025 FHFA repeat-transaction HPI had a positive direction, but it is neither a home value nor the same observation period or method as Zillow.
Rent grew 3.73%, slower than Zillow's reported value change, so the yield does not demonstrate expanding income support. HUD's two-bedroom FMR is $1,077, a payment standard—not asking rent—and the market-rent/FMR comparison is 98.60%; it must not substitute for measured rent. The 0.77% effective property-tax rate adds a carrying cost to test alongside owner-specific insurance, maintenance, vacancy and financing. The yield is gross and therefore does not cover those costs.
Realtor.com's 2026-06 MLS inventory showed 226 active listings, 35.44% more than the prior year. That visible supply needs monitoring, but active listings do not establish completed-sale demand. QCEW's 2025 reading identifies Manufacturing as the largest disclosed private supersector; QCEW measures annual covered employment at county workplaces, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast. The data do not publish a tenant-income measure or lease-renewal performance.
Tax-return migration was net negative by 90 households, and movers' average-income gap was negative $10,158, a demand-quality warning rather than a population forecast. The record reports 136 investor purchases among 1,128 total purchases, or 12.06%, showing a defined non-owner component to purchase activity but not cash-buyer activity or all investor ownership. Inland flood is the dominant hazard; modeled annual climate loss is 0.10% of building value. Underwrite flood maps, insurance quotes, condition, lease comps, taxes and transaction-level sales; published data do not show property-specific flood exposure, expenses, vacancy, financing, or closed-sale pricing.