At $1,713 in June 2026, the Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI) is the current ZIP asking-rent snapshot. It is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, rather than a lease quote or bedroom-specific reading. The five-digit 80537 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. The matched ACS 2024 five-year survey puts median gross rent at $1,684 for occupied renter homes. ACS gross rent includes selected utilities, unlike an asking-rent index. The numerical gap is narrow, but these sources are not interchangeable benchmarks: they cover different populations, costs, and time frameworks.
History points to deceleration within a still-positive path, not a reversal call. Same-month ZORI growth was 2.27% over one year, against annualized gains of 3.07% over three years and 4.68% over five years. Recent direction therefore confirms the longer upward path but breaks from its faster multiyear pace. Annualized monthly-return variability was 2.15%, modest enough to give more confidence in a current index reading than a highly erratic series would warrant. Maximum drawdown reached 1.25%; past downward episodes remain relevant even though the endpoint is higher. Coverage is 99.1%. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 1,170 for momentum, 255 for stability, and 406 for the balanced measure; lower rank is higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
For bedroom planning, ZORI has been scaled by the local HUD ladder to produce modelled, not measured, monthly estimates: $1,492 for a studio, $1,520 for one bedroom, a two-bedroom estimate equal to the current ZORI, $2,359 for three bedrooms, and $2,512 for four bedrooms. The FY2026 two-bedroom HUD FMR/SAFMR standard in that ladder is $1,732. The packet identifies the ladder as ZIP SAFMR or county-derived; HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. Accordingly, it is a scaling device for the modelled estimates, not proof that a unit in any bedroom category was listed or leased at those amounts.
A household-level screen reveals a second tension. Arithmetic at the 30% standard makes the annual income associated with the current index $68,520, versus $86,325 ACS median household income. Annualized asking rent is 23.8% of that income estimate. This is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule, and the ACS income figure is a survey estimate rather than a property-level income record. Yet the same ACS five-year evidence records 3,534 of 7,100 renter households, or 49.8%, as paying at least the threshold share of income toward gross rent. Because this burden measure concerns occupied renter homes and gross rent with selected utilities, it neither determines costs for a newly listed home nor proves burden for a particular household or unit.
The ZCTA stock data show why vacancy needs careful handling. There are 20,101 housing units, a calculated 3.1% vacancy rate, and a renter share of 36.5% among occupied homes. The stock is predominantly 14,983 single-family units, alongside 1,560 units in large multifamily structures. Vacancies include classifications for rent, sale, and seasonal use, so the aggregate rate cannot demonstrate availability, condition, price, or terms for any particular rental. For wider context only, the Loveland city context has a $1,859 rent, the Larimer County context has a $1,950 rent, and the Fort Collins, CO metro context has a $1,950 rent. Those named city, county, and metro values are wider-scope comparisons, not substitutes for a ZIP asking-rent index or ZCTA survey result.
Resale evidence is direct to the ZIP but belongs to a different market. Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation through June 30, 2026 shows a $501,387 median sold price, down 1.69% from a year earlier, across 215 homes sold. Median marketing time was 51 days. Active listings were 454. A separate inventory count stood at 227 homes, 9.6% higher year-over-year, or 3.2 months of supply. Sale-to-list outcomes averaged 98.73%; 13.41% of homes sold above list, while 40.81% went off market within two weeks. These are direct ZIP resale pricing and liquidity observations, not rental transactions, rental comparables, or property-level operating economics.
The rent and resale snapshots pull in different directions. The annualized current ZORI divided by the median sold price is a 4.10% cross-source screening ratio only, not a property-level return measure or forecast. The rent index has a positive same-month change and low observed variation, while median resale pricing declined and resale inventory increased. At the same time, the reported supply figure and the within-two-weeks result prevent a simple weak-liquidity label. This mixed resale picture challenges any conclusion drawn from rent history or the household-income screen alone. It confirms only that separate rental and for-sale measurements should be read together as a tension, without claiming that one caused the other.
Decision use should begin with direct property checks rather than a mechanical ZIP conclusion. Verify the actual home's bedroom count, stated asking rent, included utilities, lease term, concessions, deposits and fees, availability date, property type, and the listing's precise location. For a purchase-oriented comparison, examine relevant sale or listing documents rather than transferring ZIP median-sale signals to the subject home. Confirm that the address maps to the market identifier and ZCTA match used here, since neither data universe describes a particular property. ZORI is blended, ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes, HUD is an administrative standard, and Redfin is a resale observation. Those boundaries, plus the history's backward-looking nature, are why this report offers no forecast, recommendation, or claim about an individual unit.
","findings":[{"body":"The current asking-rent index remains above its prior same-month reading, but its latest pace is below the longer annualized paths. Low recorded variability and a limited historical drawdown make the snapshot more internally stable than a volatile series, while still leaving a visible moderation. The history is descriptive only and should not be recast as a forecast.","title":"Positive rent path, slower latest pace"},{"body":"Income arithmetic looks less strained at the ZIP median household-income comparison than the burden survey alone might suggest. Nearly half of surveyed renter households met the burden threshold, so the median-income comparison should not be used to describe individual households. It also joins a current asking-rent index to a survey measure of occupied homes with selected utilities.","title":"Affordability signals do not fully align"},{"body":"ZCTA housing stock is weighted toward single-family units, and its aggregate vacancy measure spans several vacancy classifications. That means neither the vacancy rate nor the count of rental vacancies identifies a comparable available unit. The city, county, and metro figures provide scale around the ZIP, but they remain wider geographies with different observational roles.","title":"Vacancy is not unit availability"},{"body":"Direct ZIP resale data show lower median sale pricing alongside higher inventory, even as supply and rapid off-market activity do not fit a simple weak-market label. This challenges a one-signal reading based on rents alone. Annualized ZORI divided by sold price is useful only as a cross-source screen, because it omits property costs, transaction terms, and unit-level matching.","title":"Resale data provide a counterweight"}],"risks":["ZORI, ACS gross rent, and HUD standards each use different populations, timing, and included-cost concepts; numerical proximity between them does not establish a rent comparable, lease quote, or unit-level market price.","The ACS ZCTA is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes, with survey uncertainty, whereas ZORI is a current asking-rent index; neither source confirms costs, burden, or availability at a particular address.","Historical growth, variability, drawdown, coverage, and discovery ranks summarize prior ZIP index behavior only. They cannot establish future rent direction, investment outcomes, or the performance of a property selected today.","Redfin's rolling-three-month resale observation aggregates for-sale outcomes. A subject property's condition, bedroom count, list terms, concessions, utilities, and precise location can materially differ from both the rent index and sold-price median."],"qa":[{"a":"The current figure is Zillow ZORI, a ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. It is not a measured bedroom rent or a signed lease amount. ACS median gross rent is a distinct five-year survey result for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, so the close figures are contextual rather than interchangeable.","q":"What does the current rent snapshot represent?"},{"a":"No. The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled monthly estimates obtained by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local HUD ladder. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, either ZIP SAFMR or county-derived in this packet, not asking rent. The resulting amounts organize comparisons by size but are not observed rental transactions.","q":"Are the bedroom figures observed market rents?"},{"a":"The income screen simply divides annualized asking rent by the stated threshold, then compares it with ACS median household income. It is neither advice nor an applicant eligibility test. The burden share reports survey results for occupied renter households paying at least the threshold portion of income toward gross rent; it cannot identify burden for a particular tenant or home.","q":"How should the required-income screen and burden result be read?"},{"a":"Redfin reports direct ZIP for-sale activity over a rolling three-month period, including prices, sales, exposure time, inventory, supply, and sale-to-list outcomes. It does not report rental transactions. The annualized rent-index-to-price calculation is therefore a cross-source screening ratio; it does not measure property economics, returns, or future performance.","q":"What does the Redfin evidence add?"}],"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 + 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2026-06","pulledAt":"2026-08-08","url":"https://www.zillow.com/research/data/"}],"history":[{"period":"2016-11-01","rent":1066.09579},{"period":"2016-12-01","rent":1061.086596},{"period":"2017-01-01","rent":1074.177948},{"period":"2017-02-01","rent":1074.224303},{"period":"2017-03-01","rent":1094.394642},{"period":"2017-04-01","rent":1097.076419},{"period":"2017-05-01","rent":1104.107767},{"period":"2017-06-01","rent":1107.733632},{"period":"2017-07-01","rent":1107.595703},{"period":"2017-08-01","rent":1113.334107},{"period":"2017-09-01","rent":1122.652362},{"period":"2017-10-01","rent":1125.420112},{"period":"2017-11-01","rent":1138.782904},{"period":"2017-12-01","rent":1127.527581},{"period":"2018-01-01","rent":1127.090205},{"period":"2018-02-01","rent":1126.554379},{"period":"2018-03-01","rent":1126.950685},{"period":"2018-04-01","rent":1136.812939},{"period":"2018-05-01","rent":1140.040722},{"period":"2018-06-01","rent":1146.206933},{"period":"2018-07-01","rent":1158.460129},{"period":"2018-08-01","rent":1157.769633},{"period":"2018-09-01","rent":1155.447774},{"period":"2018-10-01","rent":1166.084341},{"period":"2018-12-01","rent":1186.684115},{"period":"2019-01-01","rent":1187.221677},{"period":"2019-02-01","rent":1195.161814},{"period":"2019-03-01","rent":1200.190875},{"period":"2019-04-01","rent":1201.415302},{"period":"2019-05-01","rent":1207.39602},{"period":"2019-06-01","rent":1211.711846},{"period":"2019-07-01","rent":1211.552159},{"period":"2019-08-01","rent":1221.892935},{"period":"2019-09-01","rent":1227.755935},{"period":"2019-10-01","rent":1230.64186},{"period":"2019-11-01","rent":1228.940754},{"period":"2019-12-01","rent":1235.516751},{"period":"2020-01-01","rent":1245.11856},{"period":"2020-02-01","rent":1252.045774},{"period":"2020-03-01","rent":1253.084744},{"period":"2020-04-01","rent":1253.881982},{"period":"2020-05-01","rent":1245.415603},{"period":"2020-06-01","rent":1246.308918},{"period":"2020-07-01","rent":1247.256953},{"period":"2020-08-01","rent":1253.523118},{"period":"2020-09-01","rent":1254.404167},{"period":"2020-10-01","rent":1260.773081},{"period":"2020-11-01","rent":1273.133864},{"period":"2020-12-01","rent":1287.674433},{"period":"2021-01-01","rent":1285.013002},{"period":"2021-02-01","rent":1288.760992},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1298.791029},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1321.376867},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1345.630597},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1363.382875},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1378.164626},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1393.450662},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1412.782309},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1430.236687},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1427.466188},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1430.992223},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1437.548927},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1461.185707},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1464.368451},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1476.667172},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1472.553117},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1484.392197},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1492.009508},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1514.186689},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1521.110685},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1531.407539},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1534.348366},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1552.092876},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1561.912833},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1553.422363},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1552.713207},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1542.456474},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1563.662977},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1564.738151},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1589.839671},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1585.058368},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1583.303839},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1578.226517},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1600.325919},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1587.216235},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1591.232237},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1589.600431},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":1622.814571},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":1634.143464},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":1641.995083},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1649.787143},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":1651.98552},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":1647.425264},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":1644.833231},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":1637.083291},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":1638.747968},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":1650.072247},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":1652.127213},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":1663.720808},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":1665.098613},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":1681.995321},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":1678.029745},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":1675.244833},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":1672.518065},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":1685.923358},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":1698.881196},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":1716.344502},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":1714.361682},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":1718.409392},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":1721.948592},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":1723.667542},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":1714.444082},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":1705.734119},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":1708.363703},{"period":"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