Wayne County presents a favorable gross-rent-versus-price reading but a less settled demand and risk case: asking-rent growth and thin visible MLS supply coexist with a shrinking covered-job base, net out-migration, and inland-flood exposure. Buyers pursuing durable rental cash flow should investigate tenant depth, employer concentration, and parcel-level flood cost. Underwriting built on appreciation or quick resale warrants caution. County evidence describes market conditions, not a property’s operating result.
In Zillow’s 2026-06 county observation, median home value was $267,467 and median asking rent was $1,264 per month, supporting the reported 5.67% gross yield before costs. This is measured market asking rent; it is 121.4% of HUD’s two-bedroom FMR, which is a payment standard rather than a rent estimate. A 1.17% effective property-tax rate is a carrying-cost input, but assessment and parcel tax data are not supplied. Zillow’s positive annual value direction and FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increase of 4.53% point in the same direction, but use different methods and labeled periods and cannot be combined.
At county workplaces, QCEW annual-average covered employment fell 0.72%, while Manufacturing represented 32.63% of disclosed private covered jobs; neither statistic is resident employment or an employment forecast. Tax-return migration was net negative by 326, and average AGI of outbound movers exceeded inbound movers by $789, a concern about both mover volume and composition. In Realtor.com’s MLS listing-market evidence, active listings were down 41.12% while median listing price eased. That is visible supply and asking-price evidence, not closed-sale pricing or demand proof. The 7.16% investor share is reported alongside 936 purchases; it is a non-owner-occupant purchase-mortgage measure, not all investor activity.
Inland flood is the stated dominant hazard, and modeled annual building-value loss is 0.08%; this is a county-level model, not a prediction for any parcel. Verify flood zone, elevation, drainage, insurance availability, deductible, and claims history before accepting the gross-yield reading. Missing property-level condition, unit mix, lease renewals, vacancy, repairs, insurance, utilities, debt terms, and closed-sale comparables prevent an NOI, cap-rate, cash-flow, or resale-basis conclusion. Also verify the tax bill and assessment for the specific parcel.