The immediate rental reading for 19103 is a Zillow ZORI of $2,223 per month, 3.25% above its year-earlier level. Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types; it is not a survey median of leased homes or a utility-inclusive household cost measure. In contrast, the ACS 2024 five-year matched Census ZCTA reports median gross rent of $2,015 for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The asking index is therefore 10.3% higher, a useful gap to note but not evidence that either source is wrong or that one represents the same rental sample as the other.
The rent path is positive but should be read as history rather than a forecast or investment recommendation. Exact same-month Zillow ZORI growth was 3.25% over 1 year, 2.15% annualized over 3 years, and 3.09% annualized over 5 years. The latest pace therefore confirms the longer upward path and exceeds both multi-year annualized rates, rather than breaking from it. History contains 138 observations with 100% coverage, reducing concern that the reported sequence has missing periods. Monthly-return variability annualizes to 2.12%, so one current reading has a comparatively steady recent backdrop. Separately, the recorded maximum drawdown was 7.07%, showing that the index has still experienced meaningful reversals. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 213 for stability, 362 for balanced performance, and 1,139 for momentum; lower ranks are higher. Those ranks are descriptive discovery tools, not predictions.
The Census geography requires careful handling. The five-digit label is both Zillow's ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match, but a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. Within that ACS ZCTA, renter households account for 69.3% of occupied homes. The vacancy rate is 15.4%, including 1,677 homes classified as vacant for rent, while large multifamily structures account for 14,450 housing units. This stock mix and vacancy evidence describe the broader ZCTA housing inventory, not the availability, condition, rent, or lease terms of a particular apartment. It nevertheless gives the current asking-rent index a renter-heavy and multifamily-heavy survey context.
Income and burden data create a second tension: the area-level median household income is $99,644, while annualizing the current asking-rent index under the structural 30% screen produces required income of $88,920. That arithmetic places the asking-rent-to-median-income screen at 26.8%. It is not advice, an applicant qualification rule, or evidence that a household can secure a unit. ACS also estimates that 41.7% of renter households, or 5,075 households, pay at least 30% of income toward gross rent. Because this is a five-year survey measure across occupied renter homes, it cannot prove burden for a specific listing, tenant, lease, or income profile.
Wider geography offers context, not substitutes for ZIP evidence: the City of Philadelphia context rent is $1,814, Philadelphia County context rent is $1,814, and the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro context rent is $1,928. Each is below the ZIP asking-rent index, consistent with 19103 screening as a higher-rent ZIP within those wider scopes. The city, county, and metro figures cannot serve as local rental comps because their samples extend beyond the ZIP and may have different rental-type mixes. They also should not be blended with the ZCTA survey median or the HUD standard to create a single market-rent estimate.
The bedroom sequence is a modelling device rather than a measured set of bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP ZORI by the local HUD ladder produces modelled estimates ranging from $1,716 for a studio to $2,975 for the largest listed bedroom class, with the matching modelled two-bedroom estimate aligned to the ZIP index. The local HUD two-bedroom standard is $2,720, making that modelled ZIP estimate 81.7% of the standard. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent, and the scaled estimates do not observe unit size, building quality, furnishing, utilities, concessions, availability, or lease terms. They are best read as a proportional ladder tied to the ZIP index.
Resale evidence introduces the clearest cross-source tension. Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation shows a median sold price of $499,887, up 8.67% year over year, with 135 homes sold and a median 66 days on market. Inventory is 219 homes and months of supply is 4.9. The average sale-to-list ratio is 97.7%, while 16.1% of sales closed above list price. These are resale liquidity and pricing signals, not rental transactions or property economics. The stronger sale-price change challenges any simple claim that resale momentum and the more moderate rent-growth history are moving in lockstep. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the median sold price is 5.34%, but that is only a cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.
Use the evidence as a set of bounded screens rather than a property conclusion. Zillow supplies current and historical asking-rent index evidence; ACS supplies ZCTA survey evidence on occupied homes, income, burden, stock, and vacancy; HUD supplies an administrative bedroom ladder; and Redfin supplies ZIP resale observations. Sampling uncertainty in ACS, blended rental types in ZORI, modelled bedroom scaling, and differing observation windows limit direct comparison. Property-level work should verify the active asking rent, exact bedroom count, size, condition, utility treatment, concessions, lease terms, and current availability. A resale comparison also needs matched property type, sale timing, condition, and listing history before it can inform a specific decision.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow's ZIP asking-rent index is above the ACS ZCTA median gross-rent estimate. That difference is informative because it highlights distinct samples and timing, but it should not be treated as a direct rent premium for a particular apartment. ZORI tracks observed asking rents across rental types, whereas ACS describes occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities.","title":"Asking-rent index exceeds the survey rent measure"},{"body":"The latest same-month rent gain is faster than the annualized three-year and five-year changes, so the newest reading continues rather than reverses the established positive history. Complete observation coverage strengthens confidence in the historical sequence, while the recorded drawdown still cautions against treating a single current index level as permanently fixed.","title":"Recent rent direction remains consistent with the longer path"},{"body":"The arithmetic required-income screen falls below the area median household income, but the ACS burden share shows that a substantial portion of renter households spend at least the structural threshold on gross rent. These measures answer different questions: one is a current-index calculation, while the other is a survey-based distribution across occupied renter households.","title":"Income screen is below the area median, yet burden remains material"},{"body":"Direct ZIP resale data show median sale-price growth that exceeds the latest asking-rent increase, while marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list indicators describe a for-sale market with measurable liquidity. This creates a cross-source tension rather than a return conclusion. The rent-to-price calculation remains only a gross screening ratio because it omits property-specific income, expenses, financing, and condition.","title":"Resale price movement is stronger than current rent growth"}],"risks":["The ZCTA and USPS delivery ZIP are not identical geographies, so ACS population, vacancy, burden, and housing-stock estimates may not perfectly map to the Zillow ZIP market identifier used for asking-rent evidence.","Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index across rental types, while ACS gross rent reflects occupied renter homes and selected utilities; neither source establishes the achievable rent or cost structure of a specific unit.","Bedroom figures are modelled by scaling ZIP ZORI with a HUD administrative ladder. They are not observed bedroom rents and cannot capture unit condition, exact size, utility treatment, concessions, furnishing, or lease terms.","Redfin observations cover ZIP resale activity rather than rentals. Median sale price and the rent-to-price screening ratio omit property-specific revenues, expenses, timing, financing, condition, and transaction differences."],"qa":[{"a":"The measures use different universes and constructions. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index at the ZIP level, blended across rental types. ACS is a five-year survey estimate for occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA and includes selected utilities. A difference therefore does not identify an error, a concession amount, or a rent change for one apartment.","q":"Why does the Zillow asking-rent index differ from ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling the ZIP Zillow asking-rent index using the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative standard rather than asking rent. The outputs do not observe actual unit rents, physical condition, building quality, lease duration, utility inclusion, or current listing availability.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates actual measured rents for studio through larger units?"},{"a":"No. The required-income figure is simply arithmetic that annualizes the ZIP asking-rent index and applies the structural thirty-percent screen. It is not underwriting, tenant advice, a landlord policy, or an applicant qualification rule. Actual qualification can depend on lease terms, income definitions, fees, guarantors, credit standards, concessions, and the specific unit offered.","q":"Does the required-income figure determine whether an applicant can qualify?"},{"a":"Redfin's rolling-three-month ZIP evidence should be used only to describe the for-sale market, including sold prices, marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list outcomes. It is not rental-comparable evidence. Dividing annualized ZORI by median sold price is a cross-source screening calculation only; it does not measure cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.","q":"How should the resale data be used alongside the rental evidence?"}],"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 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