At June 2026, 35801’s Zillow Observed Rent Index stands at $1,448 per month, establishing the present asking-rent reference but not a lease quote for every property. ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types; it is neither a bedroom-specific measurement nor a survey of occupied homes. The five-digit label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the Census ZCTA match used here. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP, so the matched survey evidence describes the Census geography rather than an exact delivery-routing footprint. That boundary and source distinction matters before comparing figures.
Recent direction is weaker than the long arc: exact same-month Zillow ZIP ZORI changes through this endpoint were -3.8% over 1 year, -0.1% over 3 years, and 3.3% over 5 years. The latest decline therefore breaks from the positive five-year path while extending the nearly flat three-year path. History coverage is 99.1%, but annualized monthly-return variability of 4.1% and a maximum drawdown of -4.5% support the supplied high-variability classification. The transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 2,792 for momentum, 2,646 for stability, and 2,869 for the balanced measure; a lower rank is higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations, and the variability reduces confidence in treating one current rent snapshot as a settled trend.
Bedroom precision here is inferred rather than observed. The FY2026 local HUD FMR/SAFMR ladder—either ZIP SAFMR or a county-derived ladder in the supplied source—is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent; its two-bedroom standard is $1,310. Scaling ZIP ZORI through that local HUD ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,139 for studios, $1,256 for one bedroom, $1,448 for two bedrooms, $1,868 for three bedrooms, and $2,331 for four bedrooms. These figures are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and they should not be substituted for a unit’s advertised terms, size, utilities, or lease conditions.
Income and burden bring a different population and rent concept into view. The ACS 2024 five-year matched ZCTA median gross rent is $1,251. This is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, making it distinct from the current asking-rent index. The same survey reports median household income of $105,585. Applying the current asking-rent index to a 30% required-income screen produces $57,920 annually; that is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Within the survey, 1,039 of 3,296 renter households, or 31.5%, were rent-burdened at the stated threshold. Neither the burden share nor the median figures establish affordability for a particular household or unit.
Physical stock and wider-area comparisons add context without replacing the ZIP evidence. The ZCTA had 11,199 housing units and an 8.3% vacancy rate, including 8,593 single-family units and 1,299 units in large multifamily structures. This describes aggregate stock and vacant housing, not the availability, condition, or leasing status of a specific dwelling. For wider geography context only, Huntsville city’s rent context was $1,322, Madison County’s rent context was $1,371, and the Huntsville, AL metro’s rent context was $1,381; each is a named city, county, or metro scope rather than a substitute ZIP value. The ZCTA burden share is also lower than the reported city and county context shares, although those remain wider-area readings.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation ending June 30, 2026 isolates for-sale activity. Median sold price was $444,899, down 2.2% year over year, with 85 homes sold and a median 43 days on market. Inventory was 106 homes and months of supply were 3.8. The average sale-to-list ratio was 97.8%, while 10.9% of sales closed above list. These are direct ZIP resale liquidity and pricing signals, not rental transactions, rental comparable rents, or evidence of any particular property’s operating results. They must remain in the for-sale universe even when shown beside the rent index.
Combining sources is useful only as an explicit screen. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the Redfin median sold price equals 3.9%, a cross-source screening ratio that does not measure operating costs, financing, tax treatment, investor cash flow, or prospective performance. The rent and resale data both show year-over-year declines, which confirms current soft direction and challenges a simple reading of the longer positive rent history. At the same time, the aggregate income screen and lower reported burden share cannot turn the resale observation into unit-level economics. That tension—current softness beside a longer positive rent path and relatively strong aggregate income—calls for source-specific interpretation, not a single-market verdict.
Limits remain material when moving from aggregates to a property. ZORI does not reveal lease execution, ACS does not describe current listings, the HUD ladder is not asking rent, and Redfin’s resale series is not a rental-comp set. Concrete property-level checks include the advertised asking price, bedroom count and floor area, included and separately billed utilities, lease length, concessions, availability date, property condition, and whether resale data describe comparable transactions rather than an aggregate. Confirm that any use of a HUD standard fits its administrative basis instead of treating it as asking rent. The closing question is whether the specific unit’s current terms align with the correct source-specific benchmark without converting aggregate vacancy, burden, rent, or resale readings into proof about that unit.
","findings":[{"body":"June 2026 ZORI is $1,448, while the exact same-month reading is lower than a year earlier and only marginally changed over three years. The longer five-year record remains positive. With annualized variability and a recorded drawdown, that combination supports a cautious reading of the current index as a backward-looking, variable measurement rather than a stable trend.","title":"Current asking rent has weakened despite a positive longer record"},{"body":"The supplied HUD ladder converts the ZIP-wide ZORI into a studio-through-four-bedroom set of modelled estimates. It is useful for maintaining local bedroom spacing, but it does not observe advertised or signed rents by bedroom. HUD FMR/SAFMR values are administrative standards, and the model retains ZORI’s blended-rental-type limitation. A unit’s terms, utilities, and size can still differ materially from the ladder.","title":"Bedroom figures are modelled rather than observed"},{"body":"ACS presents a different affordability lens: it surveys occupied renter households in the matched ZCTA, uses median gross rent with selected utilities, and reports burden across households. The 30% income figure is only a mathematical screen based on the current asking-rent index. Median household income and aggregate burden do not establish affordability, eligibility, income, or utility costs for a particular applicant or listing.","title":"ACS affordability evidence answers a different question"},{"body":"Redfin’s ZIP record describes sales, not rental market transactions. The annualized-rent-to-sale-price division can place the rent and resale snapshots on a common screening basis, but it excludes expenses, financing, taxes, and property-specific terms. The simultaneous year-over-year movement down in rent and sold price is a real cross-source tension with the longer rent history, not evidence of a forecast.","title":"Resale softness is relevant context but remains a separate market"}],"risks":["ZORI blends rental types into a typical asking-rent index, so it may not match the bedroom, condition, utility treatment, lease duration, or concessions of any currently available dwelling.","The ACS result is a five-year survey for a matched ZCTA statistical area, not a current ZIP listing sample or an exact USPS delivery boundary, creating timing and geography limitations.","HUD bedroom standards support the modelled ladder but are administrative benchmarks rather than observed asking rents, so the estimates can diverge from actual listing terms and utility arrangements.","The direct resale record measures aggregated for-sale activity and does not identify a specific property’s rental performance, costs, financing, resale comparability, or likelihood of a future transaction."],"qa":[{"a":"ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index for a ZIP market and blends rental types. ACS median gross rent instead summarizes occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA over five years and includes selected utilities. The two measures use different populations, timing, and rent concepts, so their gap should not be treated as an error or a unit-level premium.","q":"Why is ZORI above ACS median gross rent?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom figures are modelled estimates generated by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the supplied local HUD ladder. They preserve the ladder’s relative bedroom pattern, but neither Zillow nor HUD field in this packet is a measured set of bedroom-specific asking rents. A listing may depart because its terms and included utilities differ.","q":"Are the bedroom figures observed rents?"},{"a":"The required-income figure translates the monthly ZORI into an annual income amount at a thirty-percent rent share. It is arithmetic only. It does not account for household composition, debts, savings, utilities outside gross-rent treatment, lease concessions, or eligibility rules, and it is not advice or an applicant qualification rule.","q":"How should the 30% required-income figure be read?"},{"a":"Redfin directly observes ZIP for-sale and resale activity over a rolling three-month period, including prices, sales pace, supply, and list-price outcomes. It does not observe rental transactions or reveal operating expenses. The annualized ZORI-to-sale-price division is therefore only a cross-source screen; it can highlight a tension but cannot establish property economics or an expected outcome.","q":"How should the resale evidence change the rent reading?"}],"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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2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori","name":"Zillow ZORI — metro market rents","release":"Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori_city","name":"Zillow ZORI — city market rents","release":"zillow_zori_city.csv","pulledAt":"2026-07-29","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"},{"key":"zillow_zori_zip","name":"Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents","release":"ZORI ZIP 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