ZIP 11218’s clearest measured tension is that the June 2026 Zillow asking-rent index is $3,197 per month while the ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent is $1,981, a 61.4% gap. The difference is consequential but not contradictory: the current index tracks typical observed asking rents, whereas the survey reports occupied renter homes. At the asking-rent level, a simple 30% screen produces required household income of $127,880, above the ZCTA median household income of $97,366; that arithmetic equals 39.4% of median income. It is a budget comparison, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule, but it frames the present affordability tension that the rest of the evidence either supports or qualifies.
The backward-looking Zillow rent history shows positive movement across each required horizon. Exact same-month one-year growth was 6.13%, compared with 5.16% over three years and 6.94% over five years. Recent direction therefore confirms the longer upward path, although it runs below the five-year pace and above the three-year pace rather than accelerating uniformly. Annualized monthly-return variability measures 2.85%, suggesting a relatively contained sequence of monthly changes, while the historical maximum drawdown was 4.2%, indicating that declines did occur. Coverage is complete at 100% across 137 observations. Transparent national discovery ranks are 207 for momentum, 1,332 for stability, and 267 for the balanced measure, with lower ranks indicating higher placement among history-eligible ZIPs. These are measurements, not forecasts; the variability supports more confidence in the broad trend than in any single current rent snapshot.
Source scope matters especially in this ZIP. The five-digit 11218 label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. By contrast, ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, while HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. The local HUD ladder scales ZORI into modelled estimates of $2,319 for a studio, $2,690 for one bedroom, $3,197 for two bedrooms, $3,916 for three bedrooms, and $4,512 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents. The local HUD two-bedroom standard is $2,616, providing the ladder reference rather than a listing benchmark.
Household evidence reinforces the distinction between a ZIPwide asking-rent screen and renters’ observed situations. Of 15,656 renter households in the ACS ZCTA, 7,758, or 49.6%, report paying 30% or more of income toward gross rent. That burden share neither proves that a particular unit is unaffordable nor identifies any tenant’s finances. For wider context, the City of New York asking-rent context is $4,133, Kings County asking-rent context is $3,808, and the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro asking-rent context is $3,573; each is a broader-geography comparison, not a ZIP rental comp. The ZIP’s lower current asking index relative to those three scopes coexists with its elevated asking-rent-to-local-income screen, which is the more immediate internal tension.
The ACS ZCTA housing profile supplies a separate view of capacity, tenure, and vacancy. It records 27,297 housing units, including 1,636 vacant units, for a 6.0% vacancy rate. Large multifamily structures account for the dominant form of housing stock, and renter-occupied homes outnumber owner-occupied homes. Within the vacant stock, 351 units are classified as vacant for rent. Those figures describe survey-tabulated housing status rather than a live listing count, lease-up condition, or the availability of a specific apartment. Similarly, the burden result applies across surveyed renter households and cannot establish the cost, utility package, concessions, condition, or occupancy status of an individual property.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation describes a for-sale market, not rental transactions. Its median sold price is $884,800, up 40.9% year over year, with 57 homes sold and median marketing time of 96 days. Reported inventory stands at 99 homes and months of supply at 5.3. Sale-to-list signals were also below a uniformly competitive reading: the average sale-to-list result was 98.6%, and 34.6% of sold homes went above list price. These measures provide ZIP-level resale liquidity and pricing context only. They do not supply rental comps, operating costs, property economics, or evidence that the Zillow asking-rent index applies to homes that sold.
The cross-source rent-price screen sharpens the central tension without resolving it. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin median sold price equals a 4.34% screening ratio. It is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield because it excludes expenses, vacancy experience, financing, taxes, maintenance, and property-specific rent. The resale price change is far larger than the one-year asking-rent change, while the asking-rent income screen and renter burden data remain comparatively tight. That contrast challenges any simple interpretation that resale appreciation and rent movement are occurring at the same pace. At the same time, the positive rent-history measures and the direct resale price increase both confirm that the two observed series have moved upward over their respective backward-looking comparisons.
The evidence is best read as a bounded ZIP-level screen rather than a property conclusion. ZORI blends rental types and may not match a particular building, ACS carries survey timing and margin-of-error limitations, HUD standards are administrative, and Redfin resale records concern sold homes rather than leases. A property-level file would need to verify the actual advertised rent, bedroom count, included utilities, fees, concessions, lease terms, building occupancy, physical condition, and any recent comparable sale details. It would also need to distinguish an active listing from a completed lease and an asking price from a sold price. The remaining decision question is whether the specific unit’s documented terms align with the relevant source universe, rather than whether one ZIPwide figure can stand in for all of them.
","findings":[{"body":"The Zillow asking-rent index is materially higher than the ACS median gross rent, but the two measures cover different rental populations and expense treatment. The resulting income screen is an arithmetic comparison against area median household income, not an eligibility standard. This gap is the report’s most important current affordability tension.","title":"Current asking rent sits well above occupied-home rent evidence"},{"body":"One-year, three-year, and five-year Zillow rent history all show positive exact same-month changes. Recent growth is stronger than the three-year pace but below the five-year pace, so it confirms rather than breaks from the longer path. Modest measured variability and a contained historical drawdown improve confidence in the trend, not in a precise unit-level rent.","title":"History supports an upward path with limited monthly variation"},{"body":"Redfin’s rolling-three-month ZIP data show a higher median sold price year over year, alongside completed sales, extended marketing time, inventory, and mixed sale-to-list signals. These are direct resale observations rather than rental transactions. The contrast between rapid resale price change and slower asking-rent growth complicates any single-market narrative.","title":"Resale evidence is positive but belongs to a separate market universe"},{"body":"The ACS profile indicates a renter-heavy, multifamily-oriented housing stock with measurable vacancy and a substantial share of renter households paying at least thirty percent of income toward gross rent. Neither vacancy nor burden establishes the availability, condition, rent, utilities, or affordability of a specific apartment. Listing and lease documentation remain essential context.","title":"Housing and burden data require unit-level confirmation"}],"risks":["The ZIP asking-rent index, ACS gross-rent median, and HUD standard cover different populations, timing, utility treatment, and purposes, so their spread cannot identify the rent of any specific home.","Positive historical rent changes are backward-looking measurements only. Even complete historical coverage, contained variability, and discovery ranks do not establish future asking rents, lease outcomes, or future market conditions.","Redfin resale measures concern homes that sold during a rolling period, not rental transactions. Median sold price and sale-to-list signals cannot be translated into operating economics for a rental property.","Vacancy and rent-burden statistics are area-level survey measures. They do not prove that a particular apartment is available, financially suitable, occupied, in comparable condition, or subject to the reported utility assumptions."],"qa":[{"a":"The five-digit label serves two data mappings here: Zillow uses it as a ZIP market identifier, and Census provides a matched ZCTA tabulation area. A ZCTA is a statistical area created for tabulation and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, so boundaries and populations are not interchangeable.","q":"What does the 11218 geography label represent in this report?"},{"a":"The studio through four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling the ZIP Zillow asking-rent index with the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are not measured bedroom rents, completed lease observations, or direct listing medians. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative standard and not an asking-rent measure.","q":"How were the bedroom rent figures created?"},{"a":"No. The screen simply divides the current ZIP asking-rent index by thirty percent of annual household income to show the income level implied by that arithmetic. It is not financial advice, a legal standard, landlord policy, underwriting result, or an applicant qualification rule.","q":"Does the thirty-percent income screen determine whether someone qualifies for a unit?"},{"a":"It is annualized ZIP Zillow asking rent divided by Redfin’s direct ZIP median sold price. The ratio is only a cross-source screening comparison because it excludes property expenses, taxes, maintenance, financing, vacancy experience, and unit-specific rent. It is not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.","q":"How should the Redfin rent-price screening ratio be interpreted?"}],"sources":[{"key":"apartment_list_time_on_market","name":"Apartment List Time on Market — listing liquidity","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/category/data-rent-estimates"},{"key":"apartment_list_vacancy","name":"Apartment List Vacancy Index — rental vacancy","release":"Apartment List 2026-07","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/apartment-list-vacancy-index-methodology"},{"key":"census_zcta_facts","name":"Census ACS five-year — ZCTA housing and income","release":"ACS 2024 5-year ZCTA","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://api.census.gov/data/2024/acs/acs5.html"},{"key":"hud_zip","name":"HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback","release":"ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR 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