At June 2026, the five-digit 92124 label is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the matched Census ZCTA. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. ZIP Zillow ZORI stood at $3,037 per month, up 0.8% from a year earlier. This is a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types, not a quoted rent for a particular available home. For wider context, the San Diego city context rent was $3,038, while the San Diego County and San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro context rents were both $2,991. Those close benchmarks provide scope context, but they do not establish that the ZIP has the same unit mix, lease terms, or renter population.
The longer rent record shows a distinct slowdown rather than a reversal. Exact same-month ZORI growth was 0.8% over 1 year, 0.9% annualized over 3 years, and 5.6% annualized over 5 years. Thus, recent rent direction remains positive, but its pace breaks markedly from the stronger longer historical path. Monthly changes translate to 3.5% annualized variability, so a single current index reading deserves less precision than a low-variability series might imply. The historical peak-to-trough decline was 2.5%, showing that the observed index has experienced setbacks even within its broader advance. Coverage was 100%, and transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs were 2,070 for momentum, 2,260 for stability, and 2,512 for the balanced measure; these are backward-looking discovery metrics, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Resale evidence introduces the clearest counterpoint to the rent record. Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP for-sale observation reported a $914,793 median sold price, down 5.7% year over year, with 48 homes sold and a median 16 days on market. There were 68 active listings and a reported inventory count of 24, alongside 1.5 months of supply. The average sale-to-list result was 98.6%, 29.8% of sales closed above list price, and 57.1% went off market within two weeks. These are resale-market liquidity and pricing signals, not rental transactions or rental comparables. Slowly rising asking rents alongside declining median sale prices challenge any simplistic reading of rent strength, although the short supply and marketing measures still show active resale turnover. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by the sold-price median is only a cross-source screening ratio, not a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield.
Source definitions explain why the rent benchmarks do not match. The matched ZCTA’s ACS 2024 five-year survey places median gross rent at $3,255 for occupied renter homes; that survey measure includes selected utilities and reflects reported occupied units, rather than current asking rents. Zillow’s index is below that survey median, but neither series substitutes for the other. HUD’s $4,300 two-bedroom standard belongs to yet another universe: it is an administrative, bedroom-specific FMR or SAFMR standard rather than observed asking rent. City, county, and metro figures remain wider-area context, while the Zillow, ACS, HUD, historical, and Redfin observations answer separate questions and should not be merged into a single market price.
The bedroom view is deliberately modelled rather than measured. Scaling ZIP ZORI by the local HUD bedroom ladder produces monthly estimates of $2,317 for a studio, $2,486 for a one-bedroom, $3,037 for a two-bedroom, $4,047 for a three-bedroom, and $4,902 for a four-bedroom. The local HUD standards range from $3,280 for a studio to $6,940 for a four-bedroom. These estimates preserve the ZIP index as their starting point while using the HUD bedroom pattern to express relative size differences. They are not measured bedroom rents, lease quotes, or evidence that an available unit of a stated size will transact at those amounts.
The income and burden screen is tight at the ZIP-wide level. ACS median household income was $120,201, while paying the current monthly ZORI at a 30% gross-income screen implies $121,480 of annual income. That arithmetic produces an asking-rent-to-income ratio of 30.3%. Separately, 60.0% of surveyed renter households in the ZCTA reported spending at least 30% of income on gross rent. The required-income calculation is not advice and is not an applicant qualification rule; it merely converts one index value into a standardized income comparison. Likewise, the burden statistic is a survey-based household measure and cannot prove affordability or financial strain for any particular renter or unit.
Housing composition adds useful scale without converting aggregate vacancy into unit availability. The ZCTA had 8,517 single-family units and 1,616 units in larger multifamily structures, while renter households represented 53.5% of occupied homes. Its overall vacancy rate was 7.9%, and 317 vacant units were classified as available for rent. The renter share is higher than the San Diego County context, and the vacancy rate exceeds both the San Diego city and county context measures, but those broader comparisons remain context rather than ZIP-level proof of leasing conditions. A vacant-for-rent count does not show a particular property’s condition, asking terms, concessions, or immediate availability.
The evidence supports a careful, cross-source reading rather than one headline conclusion. ZORI describes the current typical asking-rent index; ACS describes occupied renter households; HUD provides an administrative bedroom ladder; and Redfin records resale activity. Historical growth has decelerated, the historical path has meaningful variability, and resale prices moved down even as supply indicators remained compressed. Important limits include survey uncertainty, index aggregation across rental types, the absence of property operating costs, and differing observation windows. Concrete property-level checks should include the actual bedroom count, listing date, included utilities, lease duration, concessions, condition, comparable current listings, sale history, active resale competition, and whether the address is actually within the relevant ZIP and ZCTA boundary.
","findings":[{"body":"Current ZIP Zillow ZORI increased year over year, yet the one-year and three-year annualized gains are far below the five-year annualized pace. That pattern indicates deceleration, not a confirmed decline in asking rents. Because the series is classified as high variability and has experienced a historical drawdown, the latest index value is best treated as a broad current benchmark rather than a precise rent expectation for one unit.","title":"Rent growth remains positive but materially slower"},{"body":"The direct ZIP resale observation showed a lower median sold price than a year earlier, while the asking-rent index was modestly higher. At the same time, limited months of supply, short marketing time, and meaningful above-list activity show active resale conditions. This is a real cross-market tension: for-sale pricing softened, but the rental index did not move in the same direction during the stated periods.","title":"Resale pricing and rental indexing point in different directions"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled ZIP estimates produced by applying the local HUD bedroom ladder to ZIP ZORI. They are useful for expressing a consistent size gradient around the index, but they are not sampled asking rents, signed lease rents, or unit-specific valuations. HUD bedroom standards themselves are administrative benchmarks and should not be interpreted as direct market asking-rent observations.","title":"Bedroom figures are scaling outputs, not observed rent comps"},{"body":"The income needed to place the ZIP asking-rent index at the standard gross-income threshold is slightly above the ZCTA median household income. In addition, a substantial share of surveyed renter households reported gross-rent burdens at or above that threshold. These are aggregate comparisons only: the ACS measure includes selected utilities, household circumstances differ, and neither measure determines affordability for a particular applicant or address.","title":"Aggregate affordability measures are close to the standard screen"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is an aggregated asking-rent index across rental types, so it can differ from current quotes for a specific building, lease term, bedroom count, condition level, or concession package.","ACS rent, income, burden, and vacancy measures are five-year survey estimates for the matched ZCTA, carry sampling uncertainty, and should not be treated as contemporaneous evidence about an individual household.","The modelled bedroom estimates inherit both the ZIP ZORI level and the HUD bedroom ladder assumptions; they do not replace direct inspection of comparable active listings or completed leases.","Redfin resale measures describe for-sale transactions over a rolling observation window. They do not report rental transactions, operating expenses, financing costs, taxes, maintenance, or property-level cash flow."],"qa":[{"a":"The two figures measure different populations and concepts. ACS is a five-year survey of occupied renter homes in the matched ZCTA and includes selected utilities in gross rent. Zillow ZORI is a current ZIP-level typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types. A difference between them does not establish a market error, discount, or premium for any individual rental.","q":"Why does the ACS median gross rent exceed the Zillow asking-rent index?"},{"a":"No. They are modelled monthly ZIP estimates created by scaling the overall ZIP Zillow ZORI with the local HUD bedroom ladder. Their purpose is to display a consistent relative bedroom pattern. They should not be called measured bedroom rents, lease comparables, or confirmed asking prices for studios, one-bedroom homes, or larger units.","q":"Are the bedroom rent amounts direct market measurements?"},{"a":"It adds a separate direct ZIP view of the for-sale market: sold-price direction, transaction count, marketing time, available listings, inventory, months of supply, and sale-to-list behavior. It cannot validate rental rents, but it identifies a tension between modestly higher asking-rent indexing and lower median resale pricing. The annualized-rent-to-price figure remains a screening ratio only.","q":"What does the resale data add to the rental analysis?"},{"a":"Confirm the address boundary, actual bedroom count, current listing status, effective rent after concessions, utilities included, lease duration, property condition, comparable active listings, and recent relevant sales. Also verify whether apparent vacancy reflects a genuinely rentable unit. The ZIP report is designed for market context and cannot determine a property’s terms, condition, availability, or household affordability.","q":"What should be checked before using this ZIP summary for a specific property?"}],"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":"2021-04-01","rent":2259.970396},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":2284.609508},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":2311.690844},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":2345.985329},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":2422.69444},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":2535.336079},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":2594.394731},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":2580.376799},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":2569.922847},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":2591.954937},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":2618.225469},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":2664.49023},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":2691.077298},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":2750.006272},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":2784.532937},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":2816.077736},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":2793.716919},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":2759.544491},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":2753.094343},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":2778.626556},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":2808.861307},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":2840.945567},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":2873.886362},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":2897.262232},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":2905.810747},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":2916.211742},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":2955.131378},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":2973.219149},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":2970.168701},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":2929.473293},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":2912.34438},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":2904.007409},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":2927.010342},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":2936.11454},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":2952.937173},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":2947.256314},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":2945.357495},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":2917.710079},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":2898.118352},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2906.034396},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2946.965702},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2969.130983},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":2979.051437},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":2989.623675},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":3000.448336},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":3012.135931},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":2985.932822},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":2981.038853},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":2980.839136},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":3004.419035},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":3011.596096},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":3004.173021},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":2989.747016},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":3008.092639},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":3020.019787},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":3022.35232},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":3007.806232},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":2997.66853},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":3011.979681},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":3022.190873},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":3030.85004},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":3032.039458},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":3036.983333}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":63,"firstPeriod":"2021-04-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":63,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":3011.596096,"endRent":3036.983333,"change":0.00842982796853775,"cagr":0.00842982796853775},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2955.131378,"endRent":3036.983333,"change":0.02769824570554169,"cagr":0.00914879290433035},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2311.690844,"endRent":3036.983333,"change":0.31374977795257464,"cagr":0.05609389266307474}},"maxDrawdown":-0.02525908560264023,"annualizedVolatility":0.03519173049293986,"consecutiveReturnCount":62}}