The current rent signal is softer than its broader comparators. Zillow ZORI for 75228 is $1,374, down 3.9% from the same month a year earlier. Zillow ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it is not a quoted rent for one available home. The five-digit label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match; a ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. For wider asking-rent context only, the City of Dallas value was $1,618, the Dallas County value was $1,646, and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metro value was $1,673. Those wider figures frame the ZIP reading but do not replace ZIP-level evidence.
The latest decline breaks from the longer rent path rather than confirming it. Exact same-month Zillow history shows a 3.9% annualized decrease over one year and a 0.3% annualized decrease over three years, while the five-year annualized change remains positive at 3.9%. Monthly rent changes have shown 4.0% annualized variability, which limits the confidence that should be placed in one current index snapshot. Separately, the historical maximum drawdown was 7.5%, showing that the series has experienced a meaningful prior retreat. Coverage is complete across the available monthly reading period. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 2,809 for momentum, 2,613 for stability, and 2,866 for the balanced measure; these are backward-looking discovery positions, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The ACS and Zillow figures describe different rental universes. In the matched ACS five-year ZCTA survey, median gross rent was $1,266 with a $52 margin of error. ACS measures occupied renter homes and median gross rent includes selected utilities, whereas Zillow tracks a blended asking-rent index across observed rental listings. The ACS median household income was $62,667, with a $2,257 margin of error. Applying the current Zillow asking-rent index to a simple 30% income screen produces $54,960 of required annual income; the index equals 26.3% of the reported median household income on that arithmetic basis. This is an affordability screen only, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule.
Bedroom figures should be read as modelled estimates rather than measured bedroom rents. Scaling ZIP Zillow ZORI through the local HUD bedroom ladder produces modelled monthly estimates of $1,123 for a studio, $1,175 for one bedroom, $1,374 for two bedrooms, $1,728 for three bedrooms, and $2,204 for four bedrooms. HUD Fair Market Rent and Small Area Fair Market Rent standards are administrative, bedroom-specific benchmarks rather than asking rents; they provide the relative ladder used in this model. The estimates inherit both the ZIP-wide Zillow index and the HUD bedroom pattern, so an individual listing can differ because of its actual size, condition, utilities, lease terms, and available concessions.
Housing occupancy data show a mixed tenant base and a sizable vacant stock, but neither proves conditions at a specific property. The matched ZCTA contained 27,351 housing units, including 2,931 vacant units, for a 10.7% vacancy rate. Renter-occupied homes numbered 12,412, representing 50.8% of occupied homes. At the burden threshold described above, 6,433 renter households were classified as burdened, equal to 51.8% of renter households. These ACS burden results describe surveyed occupied renter homes rather than lease offers or a particular household's finances. Likewise, the vacancy measure includes multiple vacancy categories and cannot establish that a specific unit is rentable, competitively priced, available now, or likely to remain available.
The geographic comparisons add a second tension. The ZIP asking-rent index sits below the City of Dallas, Dallas County, and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro asking-rent context figures, yet the matched ZCTA renter share is lower than the City of Dallas context and higher than the Dallas County context. Its vacancy proportion is above both the city and county context rates. The metro rent-to-income context is lower than the ZIP's simple asking-rent-to-income screen, reflecting that metro-wide rent and income measures are not interchangeable with ZIP and ZCTA measures. Together, these comparisons support a relative affordability observation, but they do not establish comparable unit quality, tenant demand, lease terms, or household circumstances across geographies.
For-sale evidence points in a different direction from the recent rent decline. Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation reports a $349,421 median sold price, up 2.8% year over year, alongside 165 homes sold and 48 median days on market. Inventory was 202 homes and months of supply stood at 3.7. The average sale-to-list ratio was 97.6%, while 11.9% of sales closed above list price. These are resale-market liquidity and pricing observations, not rental transactions or rental comparables. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the median sold price produces a 4.7% cross-source screening ratio only. Rising resale prices alongside falling asking-rent history challenge any simple interpretation that current rent softness and relative rent affordability necessarily move with resale-market conditions.
Important limits remain before applying this ZIP summary to a property decision. Verify the actual advertised rent, concessions, renewal terms, utilities, bedroom count, square footage, parking charges, and lease duration for each unit, because the Zillow index and modelled bedroom ladder cannot substitute for listing-level terms. For a home purchase or resale comparison, check sale date, property type, condition, list-price history, closing credits, and whether the Redfin observation matches the intended property segment. Review ACS margins of error before treating household, burden, or occupancy measures as exact counts. The evidence is descriptive and backward-looking; the central property-level question is whether the specific unit's all-in rent and condition support the comparison implied by these broad measures.
","findings":[{"body":"The latest Zillow asking-rent reading declined from the same month a year earlier and also remains slightly lower on the three-year annualized comparison. That recent direction contrasts with the positive five-year annualized path. High variability and a material prior drawdown mean the current rent reading is informative, but it should be treated as a snapshot within a changing historical series rather than a stable endpoint.","title":"Recent asking-rent weakness interrupts the longer record"},{"body":"Zillow measures a blended asking-rent index, while ACS reports gross rent for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. The current asking-rent index exceeds the ACS median gross-rent measure, so direct comparisons require care. The income screen is useful for showing arithmetic pressure relative to reported household income, but it does not represent a leasing rule, household budget, or the experience of every renter.","title":"Affordability depends on which rental universe is used"},{"body":"The matched ZCTA has a meaningful vacancy rate, a renter share close to half of occupied homes, and more than half of renter households classified as burdened at the stated threshold. These measures identify broad market conditions and household survey outcomes. They cannot demonstrate that any individual vacant unit is suitable, affordable, available for immediate occupancy, or occupied by a financially burdened household.","title":"Vacancy and renter burden coexist"},{"body":"Direct ZIP resale data show a higher median sold price than a year earlier, while the asking-rent index has declined. Sales volume, marketing time, supply, and sale-to-list measures describe for-sale liquidity rather than rental activity. The annualized-rent-to-sale-price calculation is therefore only a cross-source screening ratio. It does not incorporate operating costs, financing, taxes, repairs, vacancy, or actual lease economics.","title":"Resale conditions challenge a simple rent-based interpretation"}],"risks":["Because Zillow ZORI blends observed asking rents across rental types, it may not match the rent, concessions, utilities, condition, or lease terms of a specific available apartment or house.","The ACS ZCTA is a five-year survey geography rather than a USPS delivery ZIP, and its income, gross-rent, occupancy, and burden estimates include sampling uncertainty and different measurement conventions.","Vacancy counts and renter-burden classifications are area-level measures. They cannot prove the availability, physical condition, tenant turnover, affordability, or financial experience associated with a particular unit.","Redfin resale data concern homes that sold in the rolling observation period. Median sale price and liquidity indicators should not be treated as rental comparables or as evidence of property-level operating results."],"qa":[{"a":"Zillow ZORI is a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. It is useful for tracking a broad asking-rent signal through time, but it is not a lease quote, a utility-inclusive rent, or a direct measure of one bedroom count, building type, or available property.","q":"What does the Zillow rent figure measure?"},{"a":"The bedroom figures begin with the ZIP-wide Zillow asking-rent index and scale it using the local HUD bedroom ladder. HUD standards are administrative bedroom-specific benchmarks, not asking rents. The resulting figures express a transparent modelled relationship and should not be presented as measured rents for available studios, apartments, or houses.","q":"Why are the bedroom rents labelled modelled estimates?"},{"a":"The required-income screen simply annualizes the ZIP asking-rent index and divides by the stated rent-share threshold. It provides an arithmetic comparison against reported median household income. It is not financial advice, does not account for debt or household composition, and is not an applicant qualification standard used by a landlord.","q":"How should the required-income screen be interpreted?"},{"a":"The screen divides annualized ZIP Zillow asking rent by the direct ZIP median sold price from Redfin. It can flag the relationship between two different source series, but it omits operating expenses, taxes, insurance, repairs, financing, vacancy, concessions, and property-specific variation. It should therefore remain a cross-source screening ratio only.","q":"What does the Redfin rent-to-price screen show?"}],"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":"2021-06-01","rent":1133.336543},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1137.400344},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1149.292285},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1168.878297},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1192.678323},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1196.001742},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1208.232639},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1226.276894},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1251.723219},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1266.213387},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1274.610574},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1294.601578},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1316.671021},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1341.658332},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1352.436404},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1336.152157},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1323.665105},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1340.354731},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1382.261748},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1402.499342},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1400.530418},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1387.367838},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1377.398881},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1376.102368},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1386.235049},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1399.60163},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1409.229951},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1426.892599},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1434.179463},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1449.562436},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1413.649918},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1400.955965},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1401.650714},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1446.621594},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1456.093278},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1443.332555},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1425.097264},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1417.717042},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1423.364007},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1447.04888},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1463.247649},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1462.489128},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1469.715965},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1470.699384},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1470.523098},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1434.637257},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1428.04675},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1429.917138},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1429.221237},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1422.158537},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1409.999692},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1385.951342},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1371.84831},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1361.011363},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1362.042431},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1361.413336},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1359.685807},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1365.071964},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1366.027185},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1368.679411},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":1373.704064}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":61,"firstPeriod":"2021-06-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":61,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1429.221237,"endRent":1373.704064,"change":-0.03884435212880899,"cagr":-0.03884435212880899},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1386.235049,"endRent":1373.704064,"change":-0.009039581713822242,"cagr":-0.0030223191150705597},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1133.336543,"endRent":1373.704064,"change":0.21208838847085532,"cagr":0.039218473170029355}},"maxDrawdown":-0.07548352723047036,"annualizedVolatility":0.040309602736813804,"consecutiveReturnCount":60}}