Wayne County presents a price-validation problem rather than a clean appreciation case: investors who can verify current comparable sales and property-level flood exposure should investigate, while those relying on a single automated value should be cautious. Zillow's June 2026 median home value is $256,393, up 6.83% year over year, whereas FHFA's 2025 repeat-transaction HPI fell 7.13%. These are different methods and dated observations; the index is not a home value, and their directions should not be blended.
Housing economics remain unproven. County market asking rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. The HUD two-bedroom FMR is $961 per month, but it is a payment standard rather than evidence of achievable asking rent. The effective property-tax rate is 1.12%, a carrying-cost input that needs parcel verification; without rent, insurance, operating costs, and a property's assessed basis, neither net income nor cash-flow coverage is supported.
Workplace and migration measures temper the price signal, but do not establish tenant demand. QCEW reports 4,042 annual average covered jobs located in the county in 2025, down 3.49%, and a $887 average weekly covered-worker wage. Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the entire economy. Tax-return migration shows 222 moving households in and 263 out, for net migration of -41; incoming movers' average income exceeded outgoing movers' by a calculated $1,538. Investor mortgages accounted for 8 of 46 purchases, or 17.39%, indicating meaningful non-owner competition in a small observed purchase count, not a measure of all buyer demand.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and modeled annual climate loss equals 0.18% of building value, a county-level metric rather than a parcel loss estimate. Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, and price-reduction figures are not published, preventing an assessment of visible supply, seller concessions, or marketing time; such measures would still be listing-market evidence rather than closed sales. Next checks are property flood zone and insurance, current lease comps, assessed-tax records, and local closed-sale comps. County evidence cannot resolve neighborhood, property-condition, or tenant-credit variation.