Scurry County presents a split signal: the Zillow county measure rose 3.84% in 2026-06, while FHFA’s separate 2025 annual repeat-transaction index rose 1.19%. The FHFA index also records a 35.07% cumulative five-year change; that is not annualized, is not a home value, and must not be blended with Zillow’s result. The tension favors cautious investigation by buyers relying on appreciation or income valuation. Because market rent is not published, an income-property buyer cannot compute gross yield; FMR cannot fill that gap.
Zillow’s median home value is $142,439. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR is $1,109 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than market asking rent. Accordingly, the record cannot support a price-to-market-rent test or quantify rent coverage. The effective property-tax rate is 1.27%, with median annual tax of $1,445; that carrying cost matters, but its effect on returns cannot be measured without rent and a full expense budget. Insurance, repairs, vacancy, utilities, management, and financing terms remain unreported.
Demand evidence is mixed and county-specific. QCEW measures annual covered jobs located in the county, not resident employment: employment grew 3.60%, while the average covered-worker weekly wage declined 2.57%. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector and represents 28.44% of private covered jobs, so concentration deserves review but does not describe the whole economy. Tax-return flows show net migration of -43 and an inbound-to-outbound average-income gap of -$20,663, meaning outbound movers had higher average income. Investor purchases were 8.70% of 115 total purchases: visible participation, not proof of buyer demand or competitive pressure.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard. The modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.10% of building value per year, not a dollar loss, insurance quote, or parcel-level result. Verify flood zone, elevation, drainage, claims, coverage, deductibles, and lender requirements. Realtor.com listing fields are not supplied, so active supply, marketing time, price reductions, and asking-price movement cannot establish demand or seller concessions. Closed-sale comparables, unit-level rent, operating statements, insurance, vacancy, and financing are missing. Those gaps prevent defensible gross-yield, cash-flow, and market-clearing-price conclusions; next diligence should test the property rather than extrapolate county averages.