Georgetown County’s tension is a rent-price split: Zillow’s June 2026 median home value was $389,276, down 0.76% year over year, while median monthly asking rent was $1,726, up 6.87%, for a supplied 5.32% gross yield before costs. This merits asset-level cash-flow investigation but caution for appreciation-led buyers. FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 3.07%; it is an index, not a home value, and its differently dated method neither confirms nor cancels Zillow’s direction.
The yield uses measured market asking rent, not HUD’s $1,204 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent. FMR is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and cannot replace the market-rent input or derive yield. Carrying costs require scrutiny: effective property tax is 0.41%, and modeled annual climate loss is 0.55% of building value under a hurricane-dominant hazard. That ratio cannot be converted here to dollars; flood zone, insurance, deductibles and condition are not published.
Realtor.com’s MLS listing market adds negotiating caution: active inventory rose, listing prices fell, median marketing time was 74 days, and 16.62% of listings had reductions. These are asking-price, visible-supply and seller-concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand alone. Investor mortgages were 111 of 835 purchases, or 13.29%, a measurable but not dominant competing-buyer presence. Net migration was positive and incoming movers reported higher average adjusted gross income than outgoing movers, but that tax-return evidence does not establish tenant absorption. In annual QCEW, county workplace covered employment fell while covered-worker wages rose; Leisure and hospitality was the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy or resident employment.
The remaining decision is a particular property’s income and resilience, not a county call. Closed-sale comparables are not published, preventing a realized-value conclusion; bedroom-level rents, vacancy and operating expenses are not published, preventing net operating income and debt-service coverage; flood-zone, insurance and repair data are not published, preventing a hazard-adjusted return. Next diligence should compare achieved rent, tax and insurance bills, wind and flood exposure, and competing listings.