The clearest current signal is a ZIP asking-rent index below every supplied broader rent context. In June 2026, Zillow ZORI for 80918 was $1,531 per month, down 1.5% from the same month a year earlier. In the supplied wider asking-rent context, Colorado Springs city was $1,739, El Paso County was $1,777, and the Colorado Springs, CO metro was $1,779; these are comparison geographies, not ZIP substitutes. The five-digit label 80918 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the matching Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area, not an area identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, so it indicates the current local asking-rent level rather than a lease quote for a specified unit.
The cooling label is supported by the full Zillow history, but the shape matters. Exact same-month annualized change was −1.5% over 1 year, versus gains of 0.6% over 3 years and 2.4% over 5 years. Thus the latest direction breaks from, rather than confirms, the longer positive path. Annualized variability calculated from monthly returns was 2.6%, and maximum drawdown was −2.6%; together, those backward-looking measurements quantify movement within the observed history. Coverage was 100% across 138 monthly observations. The transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 2,561 for momentum, 961 for stability, and 2,221 for the balanced measure, where a lower rank is higher. Complete coverage improves confidence that the recorded reversal is not a missing-data artifact, but documented variability and the reversal mean one current rent snapshot should not be treated as a forecast or investment signal.
Rent measures answer different questions and should not be merged. The matched Census ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year median gross rent was $1,648. That survey covers occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, unlike ZORI’s blended asking-rent index; current ZORI is 7.1% below the survey median. The FY2026 local HUD two-bedroom standard was $1,790. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Neither the survey median nor the HUD figure converts the asking-rent index into a tenant’s paid rent or the listing price for a particular unit.
Bedroom figures are therefore modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents. They scale ZIP ZORI using the local HUD ladder: $1,052 for a studio, $1,292 for one bedroom, $1,531 for two bedrooms, $2,130 for three bedrooms, and $2,421 for four bedrooms. The local HUD standards establish the relative rungs used in that scale rather than bedroom rents observed in ZIP listings. The coincidence between the modelled two-bedroom amount and ZORI is the scaling anchor, not independent evidence that every two-bedroom asks that amount. This construction permits standardized size comparisons, but it leaves lease duration, unit condition, included utilities, concessions, and a specific building’s availability unmeasured.
The income and burden evidence is less benign than the all-household income comparison alone. The matched ZCTA’s median household income is $87,685, above the $61,240 annual gross income arithmetically required to place annualized ZORI at 30% of income. The annualized ZORI-to-median-income calculation is 21.0%. This required-income screen is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. It uses the median for all ZCTA households, not renter incomes or a particular household’s verified resources. In contrast, the ACS ZCTA reports that 49.2% of renter households devote 30% or more of income to gross rent. That burden share describes surveyed occupied renter homes, whose gross-rent measure includes selected utilities; it cannot prove that a specific available unit is affordable, unaffordable, or burdened.
Survey stock and vacancy set the scale but not real-time availability. The matched ACS ZCTA contains 20,631 housing units, with a 3.7% all-housing vacancy rate and a 35.8% renter share among occupied homes. Its stock includes single-family homes and larger multifamily structures, so the ZORI blend and ACS rental outcomes need not represent a uniform building type. Vacancy categories in the survey include units offered for rent, for sale, and seasonal use; they are not a live inventory count. The ZIP’s lower asking-rent index relative to city, county, and metro context coexists with this ZCTA-wide vacancy reading, but neither statistic identifies a vacant unit, an achievable lease rate, or turnover at a particular property.
On the resale side, Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP observation concerns for-sale transactions, not rental transactions. Median sold price was $449,898 and was 3.3% lower year over year. There were 180 homes sold, median marketing time was 38 days, inventory was 186 homes, and months of supply was 3.1. Average sale-to-list was 99.6%, while 24.0% of sales closed above list. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the median sold price is a 4.1% cross-source screening ratio only, not a property-level return measure. The resale price decline confirms the rent history’s cooling direction, whereas the completed-sale count and marketing-time reading reflect resale turnover; neither observation supplies rental comparables or establishes the economics of a rental property.
All figures retain their source limits: Zillow is an asking-rent index, ACS is a multiyear survey of occupied homes, HUD is an administrative standard, and Redfin is an aggregate resale reading. They have different populations, timing, and definitions, and none reports an address-level rent roll, renewal outcome, operating costs, or physical condition. A property-level review would need current same-bedroom listings matched for lease term, included utilities, concessions, and availability; addressed sale comparables matched for property type and listing status; and confirmation that the subject address falls within the relevant Zillow, ZCTA, and HUD geographies. It should also distinguish actual unit vacancy from area vacancy. Does the specific unit’s bedroom count, terms, utilities, current marketing, and addressed resale evidence align with these separate aggregate measures?
","findings":[{"body":"At $1,531 in June 2026, the ZIP ZORI was lower than the supplied asking-rent values for Colorado Springs city, El Paso County, and the Colorado Springs metro. Its 1.5% same-month annual decline adds a current cooling signal. ZORI remains a blended asking-rent index across rental types, so this comparison does not identify quoted rent for a defined bedroom, building, or lease.","title":"Current asking rent trails wider context"},{"body":"The one-year ZORI decline contrasts with positive exact same-month annualized changes over three and five years. Full history coverage supports that the shift is observed rather than an obvious gap, while 2.6% annualized volatility and a −2.6% maximum drawdown constrain confidence in a single current value. The history and discovery ranks are backward-looking descriptive measurements, not projections.","title":"Historical path changed direction"},{"body":"The ZCTA all-household median income clears the arithmetic income threshold associated with current ZORI, yet almost half of ACS renter households report gross-rent burdens at or above the stated threshold. This is not a contradiction: the income screen uses an area-wide all-household median, while the burden measure describes surveyed occupied renter homes and gross rent includes selected utilities. Neither outcome determines an individual household’s affordability.","title":"Affordability screen differs from renter burden"},{"body":"Redfin’s ZIP resale data show a year-over-year decline in median sold price alongside completed sales, reported months of supply, and sale-to-list measures near list price. That price direction is consistent with the cooling rent reading, but the evidence is limited to for-sale transactions. The annualized ZORI-to-price calculation is only a cross-source screen and cannot establish unit rent, costs, or property-level performance.","title":"Resale activity confirms cooling, not rental economics"}],"risks":["ZORI, ACS gross rent, HUD bedroom standards, and Redfin sales use different populations, definitions, and timing; their comparisons frame questions but cannot substitute for unit-level rent, lease, or sale records.","The ZCTA vacancy rate and burden share are area survey statistics, not evidence that a named dwelling is available, affordable, occupied, vacant, or burdened at a specific time.","Complete history coverage improves measurement continuity, yet recent negative asking-rent movement after positive longer changes and historical drawdown mean a current index reading has limited standalone certainty.","Redfin’s rolling resale evidence describes aggregate for-sale transactions; median sales, inventory, marketing time, and sale-to-list data cannot establish rent, expenses, financing, or performance for any rental unit."],"qa":[{"a":"For this ZIP market identifier, ZORI is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. It is not an ACS median, a signed-lease payment, or a bedroom-specific quote. The matching Census ZCTA supports survey comparison, but a ZCTA is a statistical tabulation area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.","q":"What does the 80918 ZORI represent?"},{"a":"The studio through four-bedroom amounts begin with the ZIP ZORI and apply the relative positions in the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are modelled estimates for consistent size comparison, not measured bedroom rents. Their two-bedroom alignment with ZORI is a deliberate scaling anchor and does not independently confirm current listings for that size.","q":"How were the bedroom figures constructed?"},{"a":"The required-income calculation annualizes the ZIP asking-rent index and divides it by the 30% threshold, then compares that result with median income for all area households. The ACS burden share instead summarizes occupied renter households reporting gross-rent burdens. Different populations, utility treatment, survey design, and household circumstances mean neither measure is an applicant rule or evidence about one available unit.","q":"Why can the income screen and burden share point in different directions?"},{"a":"Applying these aggregates to a property requires address-geography confirmation, current same-bedroom asking terms, lease duration, concessions, included utilities, availability, and actual unit condition. It also requires properly matched addressed resale records and listing status. Area vacancy, HUD standards, ZORI, and aggregate Redfin resale signals provide context, but they do not replace current property-specific records.","q":"What property-level evidence remains necessary?"}],"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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