Hampton County’s decision tension is a stated home-value figure versus weak and inconsistent price and liquidity evidence, making it a case for investigators who can verify rents, insurance and exit demand; buyers depending on appreciation or quick resale should be cautious. Zillow’s county observation labeled 2026-06 reports a $157,007 median home value, up 0.06% year over year. FHFA’s annual index labeled 2025 fell 2.46%. It is a repeat-transaction appreciation index rather than a home value, so its different vintage and method cannot be averaged with Zillow into one price trend.
Carrying costs have a defined tax input: the effective property-tax rate is 0.80%, with median annual property tax of $897. Market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed and price cannot be tested against an income stream after taxes. HUD’s $902 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent; it cannot be substituted for lease revenue or yield. This leaves the central price-to-rent underwriting relationship unmeasured.
Realtor.com provides MLS listing-market—not closed-sale—evidence: 48 active listings, up 53.23% year over year, a 98-day median marketing time, and 15.28% of listings reduced. Those measures describe visible supply, marketing time and seller concessions, not buyer demand by themselves. Annual QCEW covered workplace employment fell 3.92%; Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole county economy or resident employment. Tax-return migration shows 337 movers in and 377 out; inbound movers’ average income exceeded outbound movers’ by $1,296, a calculation from the supplied averages.
Buyer competition is observable in the reported financing sample: nonoccupants made 10 of 144 purchase mortgages, or 6.94%. The modeled annual building-value loss ratio is 0.29%, and hurricane is the dominant hazard; this is modeled loss, not a property-specific insurance quote. Missing published rents, vacancy and operating costs prevent cash-flow and yield conclusions; absent closed-sale comparables prevent a sale-price conclusion; and absent flood, elevation, insurance and condition evidence prevents a property-level hazard-cost conclusion. Verify each before relying on county averages.