Williamsburg County presents a decision tension: its $123,559 county median home value is paired with conflicting direction measures and untested operating income. Rental buyers should investigate unit-level rent and insurance before treating the county as a yield case; buyers reliant on resale momentum should be cautious. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value fell 5.18% year over year. FHFA’s separate 2025 repeat-transaction HPI rose 0.06% annually and 48.93% over five years. These are different methods and vintages, not one growth series.
Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s $902 two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not a market asking-rent estimate, and cannot substitute for rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.66%. Modeled climate loss equals 0.37% of building value per year; its alignment with the county’s hurricane hazard makes insurance, deductible, and flood-zone verification central. Neither the modeled ratio nor tax data establishes a property-level operating cost.
Demand evidence is restrained rather than decisive. Net migration was 1 tax-return household, while movers in had average AGI $2,049 below movers out; this is a small county-level flow, not a tenant-demand measure. Nonoccupants accounted for 8 of 156 purchase mortgages, indicating measured investor participation without establishing broad buyer competition. Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector in 2025 QCEW data. QCEW measures annual covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment or a forecast.
Realtor.com MLS evidence shows 45 active listings, a 99-day median marketing time, and 16.05% of listings with price reductions. These are visible asking-side supply and seller-concession measures, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. The record lacks market rent, closed-sale comparables, vacancy, property-level condition, insurance and flood costs, and financing terms; without them, gross yield, net cash flow, replacement risk, and exit pricing cannot be underwritten. Next checks are lease comps, insurance and flood quotes, tax assessment, and comparable closed transactions.