Powell County presents an underwriting tension: Zillow’s June 2026 median home value was $148,679, down 14.11% year over year, while FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 10.48%. These are different methods and labeled periods. FHFA’s index is not a home value, and neither measure should be averaged into a single growth view. Underwriters should resolve the conflict with property condition, location, and closed-sale comps before relying on either price signal.
Income underwriting remains incomplete because market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $866 per month is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent. The effective property-tax rate of 0.62% is a carrying-cost input, but it does not establish a parcel’s tax bill or offset the missing rent evidence. This county is therefore more suitable for investigators who can obtain current lease comps and property-specific expense quotes than for screens requiring a verified yield.
QCEW reports annual average covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment: 3,003 jobs, down 0.46%. Its $820 average weekly wage is a covered-worker average, while Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector rather than the whole economy. Net tax-return migration was 11 households, but incoming movers’ average AGI was $166 below outgoing movers’. Non-occupant purchase mortgages numbered 21 against 128 total purchases, or 16.41%; this indicates some investor participation but does not measure cash buyers or bidding intensity.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the 0.26% modeled expected annual building-value loss ratio makes flood exposure a direct expense and resilience diligence item, not a record of realized losses. Property-level flood zone, elevation, prior loss, and insurance evidence are absent, preventing an all-in carrying-cost conclusion. Realtor.com MLS listing metrics are also not published in the record, preventing assessment of visible supply, marketing time, and seller concessions; those metrics would be asking-market evidence, not closed-sale proof of buyer demand.