At $1,632 per month in June 2026, Zillow ZORI places the direct asking-rent reading for ZIP 37918 below the broader context rents: the City of Knoxville citywide context is $1,735, Knox County countywide context is $1,768, and the Knoxville, TN metro metropolitan-area context is $1,756. The ZIP's year-over-year change is a 0.8% increase. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is neither a census rent statistic nor a bedroom-specific listing survey. This five-digit label, 37918, is both the Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match in this packet. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP; that distinction matters when applying ZIP-labeled evidence to an address.
The history reads as cooling rather than reversal. Exact same-month change was 0.8% over one year, while the annualized change across three years was 3.6% and across five years was 7.5%. Thus, the recent direction confirms the longer upward path but breaks from its earlier pace. Annualized monthly-return variability of 2.6% supplies a concrete uncertainty measure around the index, so confidence belongs in the broad current level rather than an exact unit-price inference; it does not make the snapshot permanent. The maximum drawdown was a 0.8% fall, a limited retreat within the observed run. Coverage was 98.9% across 89 observations. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 1,472 for momentum, 817 for stability, and 1,031 for the balanced score, where lower ranks are stronger. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Resale evidence pulls in a different direction. In Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation, median sold price was $354,820, up 3.2% from a year earlier. The same resale series recorded 194 homes sold, a 59-day median marketing time, and 219 homes of inventory, equivalent to 3.4 months of supply. The average sale-to-list result was 98.8%; 17.5% of sales closed above list, and 40.1% went off market within two weeks. These are for-sale market observations, not rental transactions or rental comparables. The 5.5% figure obtained by annualizing ZIP ZORI and dividing by median sold price is only a cross-source screening ratio. It does not measure a property's expenses, financing, cash flow, or realized outcome. Rising resale price alongside cooling asking-rent growth challenges a simple shared-momentum reading of the two markets.
Bedroom detail should not be mistaken for measured rents. For FY2026, the local HUD FMR/SAFMR ladder has a two-bedroom administrative standard of $1,440; HUD FMR/SAFMR is a bedroom-specific administrative standard, not asking rent. Scaling ZIP ZORI by that local ladder gives modelled monthly ZIP estimates of $1,303 for a studio, $1,315 for one bedroom, $1,632 for two bedrooms, $2,063 for three bedrooms, and $2,414 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents. They retain HUD's local bedroom pattern while anchoring the level to the ZIP asking-rent index, so they cannot establish a particular unit's current advertised rent, square footage, condition, or included charges.
Affordability cannot be read by substituting ACS for ZORI. The matched Census ZCTA's ACS 2024 five-year survey reports $1,131 median gross rent among occupied renter homes, and that measure includes selected utilities. It is a survey measure rather than a current asking-rent index, so its lower level and ZORI's higher level are different evidence universes rather than interchangeable rent quotes. At the 30% required-income screen, the current ZORI arithmetic requires $65,280 in annual household income. The ZCTA median household income is $69,752; applying the current annual ZORI to that figure yields 28.1%. This is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. The survey estimates that 43.3% of renter households are rent burdened under that screen; it does not prove the burden or utility bill for any particular unit.
The ZCTA's occupied housing is mostly owner-occupied, not a roster of available rentals. Of 20,690 housing units, the estimated vacancy rate is 7.3% and the renter share is 31.0%. Its structure mix includes 15,525 single-family units and 530 units in large multifamily buildings, while 482 vacant units are classified as for rent. These ACS stock and vacancy estimates help frame the pool around the rent index, but they neither identify a vacant comparable nor demonstrate availability, condition, lease terms, or rent at any particular address. Vacancy also cannot be used as proof of tenant demand or turnover at an individual property.
The central tension is therefore not resolved by choosing a preferred headline. ZIP ZORI is lower than the named city, county, and metro context readings, yet its modelled required-income screen sits close to the ZCTA household-income midpoint and the survey still reports renter burden. At the same time, the historic rent series has cooled while direct resale prices rose. Each statement can be true because it answers a different question: current blended asking rents, past indexed movement, occupied-household survey experience, administrative bedroom standards, or for-sale outcomes. The appropriate confidence is strongest in the labels and stated scopes, not in treating any series as a substitute for another or as evidence of the economics of a specific home.
Before using these ZIP-level screens for a property decision, verify the unit address against the relevant ZIP market identifier and the statistical ZCTA, then inspect the current asking rent and lease terms. Concrete checks include bedroom count, square footage, utilities, concessions, fees, furnished status, parking, condition, listing date, and comparable active offerings. For a resale candidate, confirm that the property type and condition are relevant to the ZIP resale observation and review its actual list and sale records rather than applying an area median. Check whether the unit's advertised rent is an asking figure or a signed lease amount. Does the specific property's current configuration and contract evidence fit the limited index, survey, administrative, and resale signals reported here?
","findings":[{"body":"Same-month ZORI growth remains positive at 0.8% over the latest year, but it trails the 3.6% and 7.5% annualized gains recorded across the longer windows. That makes the supplied cooling classification a deceleration in observed asking-rent movement. The 98.9% history coverage supports use of the series, while the metrics remain backward-looking index evidence rather than a projection.","title":"Cooling is a pace change, not a reversal"},{"body":"Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP observation shows a 3.2% rise in median sold price while current asking-rent growth is slower. With 194 homes sold, 3.4 months of supply, and average sale-to-list at 98.8%, it describes active resale conditions. It must not be used as rental comparable evidence. The ZORI-to-price percentage is a cross-source screen, not a measure of a home's realized economics.","title":"Resale signals challenge rent momentum"},{"body":"ACS median gross rent of $1,131 comes from occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA and includes selected utilities; ZORI measures current blended asking rents. The gap is therefore not a direct quote comparison. The required-income screen places the indexed rent near the reported median household income, while 43.3% of renter households are reported burdened. Neither statistic qualifies an applicant or proves any unit's monthly cost.","title":"ACS burden and asking rent answer different questions"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are calculated by scaling ZIP ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder. They preserve a locally supplied relative pattern but are modelled monthly ZIP estimates, not observed bedroom rents. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative, bedroom-specific standard, not an asking-rent series. A property can differ materially on utilities, quality, size, furnishing, fees, and lease timing.","title":"Bedroom amounts are scaled estimates"}],"risks":["The ZIP label matches a Census ZCTA in this packet, but a ZCTA is a statistical area rather than an identical USPS delivery ZIP. Address-level geography needs confirmation.","A single ZORI figure blends rental types and represents asking rents, whereas ACS gross rent reflects occupied households and selected utilities. Treating either as a unit quote can misstate current terms.","Vacancy, renter burden, and structure counts are area-level survey estimates. They cannot establish availability, tenant demand, turnover, affordability, or physical condition for a specific unit.","The Redfin resale series concerns sales rather than rental transactions. Its price screen omits property expenses, financing, contract terms, and unit-specific differences, preventing property-level economic conclusions."],"qa":[{"a":"ZORI is a current ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA and its gross-rent measure includes selected utilities. Different timing, populations, and definitions mean the two values frame different questions; they are not competing quotes for the same apartment.","q":"Why does the report show a lower ACS rent than ZORI?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom amounts come from scaling the ZIP asking-rent index by the local HUD ladder, which is designed as an administrative bedroom-specific standard. This preserves relative bedroom sizing in a model, but it does not observe actual advertised units. It cannot capture a unit's square footage, condition, utilities, concessions, furnishing, fees, or lease timing.","q":"Are the bedroom figures measured rents?"},{"a":"The calculation annualizes the current ZORI and uses the 30% benchmark to derive the household income associated with that arithmetic screen. It then compares annual indexed rent with the reported median household income. It is a standardized calculation only and does not consider credit, deposits, assets, household composition, lease terms, or an individual applicant's eligibility.","q":"What does the required-income screen mean?"},{"a":"Redfin directly records ZIP resale outcomes in a rolling-three-month period, while ZORI tracks asking rents and the history measures past indexed movement. A rising resale median alongside slower asking-rent growth is a cross-universe tension, not proof of causation. The annualized-rent-to-price calculation remains only a screening ratio and omits all property-specific economics.","q":"How should resale evidence be read with rent history?"}],"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 FY2026","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/usps_crosswalk.html"},{"key":"realtor_county","name":"Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory","release":"county inventory 2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-07-28","url":"https://www.realtor.com/research/data/"},{"key":"redfin","name":"Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts","release":"metro tracker through 2026-05-01","pulledAt":"2026-07-26","url":"https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/"},{"key":"redfin_zip","name":"Redfin Data Center — ZIP resale activity and supply","release":"ZIP rolling 3 months through 2026-06-30; updated 2026-07-03","pulledAt":"2026-08-12","url":"https://www.redfin.com/news/data-center/"},{"key":"zillow_county","name":"Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents","release":"county ZHVI/ZORI 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 2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"}],"history":[{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":906.273859},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":909.404858},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":918.240342},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":926.076891},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":928.638874},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":928.623818},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":929.464147},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":936.213686},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":938.388093},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":948.90795},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":951.433776},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":952.916626},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":951.424819},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":979.412283},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":977.8055},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":984.744991},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":983.581825},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":990.348443},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":994.434574},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1010.948009},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1034.008077},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1037.16214},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1038.404592},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1036.219434},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1053.848464},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1072.254676},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1099.983258},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1109.545915},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1134.875271},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1150.415225},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1175.112938},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1198.639409},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1212.795846},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1225.068948},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1244.265853},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1253.078319},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1277.290047},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1289.233549},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1304.370187},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1332.309021},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1345.757569},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1361.2479},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1368.606025},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1366.67212},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1382.498984},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1399.721122},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1415.291474},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1440.356919},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1439.960626},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1446.09083},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1452.083018},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1459.747965},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1469.656408},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1477.338433},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1484.864071},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1512.289229},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1515.155844},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1535.165903},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1528.39715},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1539.096795},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1543.591556},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1558.869392},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1560.777698},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1563.234982},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1565.227459},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1574.64949},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1577.691001},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1569.435807},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1584.619578},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1593.335676},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1604.902097},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1595.94013},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1598.163402},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1615.069023},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1625.744302},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1629.961474},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1619.405867},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1619.038883},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1624.401512},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1630.034802},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1625.780172},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1617.127125},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1619.135664},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1625.875397},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1631.7427},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1619.499973},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1618.065155},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1619.765273},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1632.201496}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":89,"firstPeriod":"2019-01-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":90,"coverageRatio":0.9888888888888889,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1619.405867,"endRent":1632.201496,"change":0.007901434261013529,"cagr":0.007901434261013529},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1469.656408,"endRent":1632.201496,"change":0.1106007411767771,"cagr":0.03558556055916395},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1134.875271,"endRent":1632.201496,"change":0.4382210430594533,"cagr":0.07538785582094931}},"maxDrawdown":-0.008382170179158765,"annualizedVolatility":0.02563890390555173,"consecutiveReturnCount":87}}