At June 2026, Zillow’s ZIP ZORI for 29407 was $1,785 per month. It is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, not a quoted rent for a particular home or a uniform apartment category. The five-digit label 29407 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and a matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a Census statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, so an address-level delivery ZIP or property boundary should not be inferred from this market label alone. The current index is most useful as a broad asking-market reference, with property-specific terms still requiring direct verification.
The historical record fits a stable-growth label, but its pace has cooled. Exact same-month annualized ZIP ZORI change was 0.83% over one year, compared with 2.12% over three years and 6.17% over five years. The latest direction therefore remains positive while breaking from the faster longer-run path; it does not support simply extending the earlier rate. Coverage was 100%, which strengthens confidence that the trend is not built from missing periods. Monthly Zillow returns produced 2.82% annualized variability, indicating that this index did move around its trend. Its maximum peak-to-trough fall was 2.18%, confirming that even this historical path included retrenchments. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 1,789 for momentum, 1,282 for stability, and 1,724 for the balanced measure, where lower rank is higher placement. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Bedroom detail needs especially careful treatment here. Scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly ZIP estimates of $1,557 for a studio, $1,633 for one bedroom, $1,785 for two bedrooms, $2,222 for three bedrooms, and $2,564 for four bedrooms. They are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and should not be treated as observed asking quotes for available units. The local HUD FMR/SAFMR ladder supplies the bedroom ratios used in the scaling. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent, so it belongs in a different evidence universe from Zillow’s blended asking-rent index.
ACS answers a materially different rent question. The matched ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey reported median gross rent of $1,431, a measure of occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities; its stated margin of error was $51. Zillow’s current asking index is 24.7% higher, but that gap is not a measured rent increase for the same homes because the samples, timing, and utility treatment differ. At a 30% rent share, $1,785 implies $71,400 in annual income under the required-income screen, versus a ZCTA median household income of $85,367. That calculation is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Separately, 43.7% of surveyed renter households had gross-rent burdens at or above 30%. The burden statistic cannot prove that any particular available unit is affordable or unaffordable.
Tenure, stock, and vacancy add another layer of context. Renter households accounted for 43.1% of occupied homes in the matched ZCTA, while the overall housing vacancy rate was 10.5%. The stock is more concentrated in single-family structures than in large multifamily buildings, but that aggregate composition neither identifies a current vacancy nor establishes the condition, terms, or rent of a specific property. In wider reference scopes, the City of Charleston context rent was $2,245, the Charleston County context rent was $2,156, and the Charleston-North Charleston, SC metro context rent was $2,066; each exceeds the ZIP index. Those city, county, and metro figures are broader context only and are not substitutes for direct ZIP evidence or property-level rent comparisons.
The resale picture is separate from rental evidence and shows softer pricing alongside measurable transaction activity. In Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation through June 30, 2026, the median sold price was $557,374, down 3.4% year over year. There were 162 homes sold, and median marketing time was 55 days. Inventory stood at 171 homes with 3.2 months of supply. Sale-to-list evidence remained below full list pricing: the average sale-to-list ratio was 97.61%, 17.74% of sales closed above list, and 42.24% went off market within two weeks. These are direct ZIP for-sale and resale observations, not rental transactions, rental comparables, or evidence of property operating economics.
Set beside one another, the rent and resale data create a meaningful tension. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the direct ZIP median sold price equals a 3.84% cross-source screening ratio only. It cannot stand in for a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield because it omits property-specific expenses, financing, taxes, maintenance, vacancy experience, and unit-level rent. More importantly, the one-year asking-rent index still rose 0.83% while the median resale price fell 3.4%. That resale decline challenges any uncomplicated reading of the longer rent-growth history. Likewise, the median-income arithmetic and the renter-burden share describe different affordability lenses rather than a single conclusion about a household or dwelling.
Important limits remain before applying these ZIP indicators to a property. Zillow measures a blended current asking-rent index; ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes; HUD provides a bedroom-specific administrative standard; and Redfin records resale activity. A property-level review should verify the exact address geography, bedroom count, advertised rent, concessions, lease duration, included utilities, condition, and date of the listing. For a resale comparison, verify whether completed nearby sales match the property’s type and whether active-list terms differ from sold terms. The central unresolved question is whether verified unit terms resemble the broad ZIP index, rather than an assumed average drawn from incompatible source universes.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow’s June 2026 ZIP index was $1,785, and its one-year same-month gain was 0.83%. The three- and five-year annualized changes were stronger, so the record still rises but has slowed. Complete coverage helps evaluate continuity, but the historical series remains backward-looking and cannot establish future rent growth, resale pricing, or a lease outcome.","title":"Asking-rent growth has decelerated"},{"body":"The ACS ZCTA median gross rent covers occupied renter homes and selected utilities, whereas Zillow tracks a blended asking-rent index. The required-income calculation is a simple 30% arithmetic screen against the current Zillow figure. The ACS burden share describes surveyed renters, not the affordability, approval status, or utility cost of one available property.","title":"Affordability indicators describe different populations"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled estimates created by scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD ladder. They are not measured asking rents. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom standard, so it should be used to understand the model’s construction rather than as a substitute for current listing evidence.","title":"Bedroom values are scaled estimates"},{"body":"The direct ZIP resale observation showed a year-over-year decline in median sold price even as the one-year asking-rent index increased slightly. Marketing time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list measures all belong to the for-sale universe. The annualized-rent-to-price figure is only a cross-source screen and does not establish property income, expenses, or return.","title":"Resale evidence challenges a simple rent narrative"}],"risks":["Zillow asking rents, ACS gross rents, and HUD standards use different populations, timing, and rent definitions. Comparing them as if they measured the same apartment can create an unsupported conclusion about rent change or value.","The complete historical record shows a positive but slower recent asking-rent path. A current snapshot is better supported as a benchmark than as evidence that the faster five-year pace will continue.","The ACS rent-burden share applies to surveyed renter households in the ZCTA. It does not establish affordability, tenant demand, vacancy, utility responsibility, or qualification for a particular property.","Redfin resale metrics capture completed for-sale transactions rather than rental operations. Using the rent-to-price screening ratio as a yield measure would omit expenses, financing, property condition, taxes, concessions, and actual lease terms."],"qa":[{"a":"It is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the matched Census ZCTA label used for ACS data. A ZCTA is a statistical area built for Census reporting, while a USPS delivery ZIP is a mail-routing geography. They can align for this report’s matching purpose without being identical address-level boundaries.","q":"What does the 29407 label represent in this report?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly ZIP estimates generated by scaling the overall Zillow asking-rent index with the local HUD bedroom ladder. The construction helps express relative bedroom sizing, but it does not measure live listings, signed leases, concessions, utility treatment, or the rent of a specific unit.","q":"Are the studio through four-bedroom figures observed market rents?"},{"a":"No. It divides annualized Zillow asking rent by 30% to create an arithmetic income reference point. It is not financial advice, an applicant qualification standard, or a measure of any household’s actual budget. The ACS burden statistic is also a separate survey measure, not a unit-level affordability verdict.","q":"Does the 30% income screen determine whether a household can rent in the ZIP?"},{"a":"It is annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the direct ZIP median sold price, combining two sources for a narrow screening comparison. It is not a cap rate, property yield, net return, or expected return. It excludes property-specific operating costs, financing, tax treatment, maintenance, vacancy, and realized lease income.","q":"How should the Redfin rent-to-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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