Rent and resale data point in different directions in ZIP 98092. At June 2026, Zillow ZORI is $2,051 per month, a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a quote for a specific available home. The five-digit 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. The current index is essentially unchanged from the prior June, while the local for-sale record shows materially stronger price movement. That contrast is the central decision tension: the asking-rent snapshot is stable, but it should not be read as a complete description of either household affordability or resale conditions.
The backward-looking Zillow history shows that the current pause breaks from a longer upward path. The one-year exact same-month annualized change is 0.01%, compared with 1.92% for the three-year measure and 3.63% for the five-year measure. Monthly index movements produced 2.47% annualized variability, which supports more confidence in a relatively steady historical series than in a highly erratic one, but the flat recent year still limits confidence that one current rent level represents an active growth trend. The maximum drawdown was 1.91%, a modest historical decline rather than evidence of no downside. Coverage is 100% across 65 observations and 64 consecutive monthly changes. Transparent national history-eligible-ZIP discovery ranks are 2,053 for momentum, 633 for stability, and 1,508 for the balanced measure; lower ranks place higher. These are retrospective discovery measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
Redfin's direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation is notably firmer than the rent history, but it remains evidence about for-sale transactions rather than rentals. The median sold price was $684,845, up 7.09% year over year, with 136 homes sold and a median 14 days on market. Redfin recorded 292 active listings, while its separate inventory measure was 147 homes and months of supply stood at 3.3. The average sale-to-list ratio was 99.79%, 31.09% of sales closed above list, and 46.12% went off market within two weeks. Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by that median sold price gives a 3.59% cross-source screening ratio only; it is neither a cap rate, net return, expected return, nor property yield. The resale price increase challenges any reading of flat asking rent and the income screen as a full measure of this ZIP's market conditions.
Source definitions explain why similar-looking rent figures should not be merged. The ACS 2024 five-year estimate places median gross rent at $2,055, with a reported $96 margin of error; it is a survey result for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities, not a current asking-rent measure. FY 2026 HUD's two-bedroom standard is $2,501, and the Zillow asking index is 82.01% of that administrative benchmark. HUD FMR or SAFMR is bedroom-specific program standard-setting, not asking rent. Scaling ZIP ZORI by the supplied local HUD ladder produces modelled estimates of $1,701 for a studio, $1,760 for one bedroom, $2,051 for two bedrooms, $2,683 for three bedrooms, and $3,155 for four bedrooms. They are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents, and cannot substitute for unit-specific listings.
The income and burden data add a separate household lens. A 30% screen applied arithmetically to the annualized ZIP asking-rent index produces required household income of $82,040. The matched ZCTA's median household income is $122,300, making the index-to-income comparison 20.12% on this aggregate basis. This is arithmetic, not advice and not an applicant qualification rule; household income, utilities, household size, and the rent for a particular unit can differ substantially. ACS reports that 1,891 of 4,275 renter households, or 44.23%, paid at least 30% of income toward rent. That burden measure describes surveyed occupied renter households and cannot prove that a particular available unit will be affordable or burdensome.
Housing composition supplies context for those aggregate screens without identifying current supply. The ACS ZCTA has 50,224 residents and 17,247 housing units, with a 3.65% vacancy rate. Its reported stock includes 12,547 single-family units and 1,296 units in large multifamily structures, while renter occupancy represents 25.73% of occupied homes. These figures are five-year survey estimates for the statistical area, rather than a count of homes actively marketed at the Zillow rent index. Vacant-for-rent and vacant-for-sale classifications also belong to distinct Census categories; neither category proves that a specific home is available, suitable, or priced at the reported asking-rent level. The stock data therefore help frame tenure and vacancy, but do not replace current listing verification.
Wider geography provides comparison only. Auburn city Zillow asking-rent context is $1,952.88, King County Zillow asking-rent context is $2,330, and Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metro Zillow asking-rent context is $2,269. The ZIP index sits above the city-context figure but below both the county-context and metro-context figures. Those comparisons describe different geographic scopes in the same broader area; they are not substitutes for ZIP 98092 evidence, and they do not establish why the levels differ. In particular, county and metro rents must not be treated as local bedroom rents, local vacancy measures, or resale comparables for this ZIP.
The evidence supports a disciplined reading rather than a single conclusion. Zillow offers a current blended asking-rent index and a complete but backward-looking history; ACS offers renter-household and housing-stock survey context; HUD supplies administrative bedroom standards; and Redfin offers direct ZIP resale liquidity and pricing observations. Before attaching these figures to a property, confirm the actual bedroom count, current advertised rent, lease term, whether utilities are included, listing status, and the property's relevant recent sale and list information. Check whether a prospective home resembles the rental types represented in ZORI and whether its transaction belongs in the Redfin resale universe. The practical question is not whether one statistic is definitive, but whether the specific unit's current terms remain consistent with the separate rent, household, stock, and resale evidence.
","findings":[{"body":"Zillow ZORI was $2,051 in June 2026 and the one-year same-month change was only 0.01%. That contrasts with annualized three-year growth of 1.92% and five-year growth of 3.63%. The historical pattern is relatively stable, but the latest year does not confirm the longer-run growth pace. It should be treated as a backward-looking shift in observed asking-rent direction, not a forecast.","title":"Flat recent asking rent interrupts longer growth"},{"body":"Redfin's direct ZIP resale data show a $684,845 median sold price, up 7.09% year over year, with 14 median days on market and 3.3 months of supply. Those for-sale signals contrast with the essentially flat Zillow asking-rent index. The divergence does not establish a causal link, but it means rental history alone does not summarize the ZIP's broader housing-market evidence.","title":"Resale conditions are stronger than the rent snapshot"},{"body":"The studio-through-four-bedroom figures are modelled by scaling ZIP Zillow ZORI with the supplied HUD bedroom ladder. They organize the current blended asking-rent index into a consistent relative structure, but they are not measured rents for available apartments or houses. HUD's bedroom-specific FMR or SAFMR standards are administrative benchmarks, so neither the ladder nor the modelled estimates should replace property-level asking-rent checks.","title":"Bedroom figures are a HUD-scaled model, not lease evidence"},{"body":"The arithmetic 30% required-income screen is $82,040 against ZCTA median household income of $122,300, yet 44.23% of surveyed renter households were rent burdened at 30% or more. These measures answer different questions: one compares an index with aggregate income, while the other records occupied renter-household conditions. Neither result determines affordability for a particular applicant or unit.","title":"Aggregate income screen is more favorable than renter burden alone suggests"}],"risks":["Zillow ZORI is a blended ZIP asking-rent index across rental types, so it can differ from a specific property's advertised rent, lease terms, bedroom count, condition, and included utilities.","ACS ZCTA estimates are five-year survey measures of occupied homes with margins of error, and the ZCTA statistical boundary is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP.","Redfin reports direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale activity, not rental transactions; sale prices, marketing time, inventory, and sale-to-list measures cannot be transformed into unit-level rental economics.","Vacancy, renter burden, and housing-stock measures describe aggregate categories and households, not the availability, condition, affordability, or likely performance of any particular currently listed property."],"qa":[{"a":"They measure different universes. Zillow ZORI is a current-style ZIP asking-rent index blended across rental types. ACS median gross rent is a five-year survey estimate for occupied renter homes and includes selected utilities. HUD FMR or SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard. Similar dollar values do not make them interchangeable measures of the same market activity.","q":"Why do Zillow, ACS, and HUD show different rent figures?"},{"a":"The history indicates a sharp slowdown in recent direction rather than a uniformly rising path. The one-year measure is essentially flat, while the three-year and five-year measures remain positive. Low historical variability and a limited maximum drawdown support confidence that the series has been comparatively stable, but they do not turn the current index into a forecast or guarantee future rent movement.","q":"What does the rent history say about the current Zillow figure?"},{"a":"No. The bedroom values are modelled estimates produced by scaling the ZIP Zillow ZORI level using the local HUD bedroom ladder. They are useful for a standardized relative screen, but they are not measured asking rents, signed leases, or rental comparables. Actual unit rents can differ because of property type, condition, lease structure, utility treatment, and active listing conditions.","q":"Are the bedroom estimates observed rents for ZIP 98092?"},{"a":"It is simply annualized ZIP Zillow ZORI divided by Redfin's median sold price in the direct ZIP resale observation. It is a cross-source screening ratio that compares two aggregate series with different universes. It excludes operating costs, financing, taxes, repairs, vacancy experience, property condition, and transaction-specific details, so it is not a cap rate, property yield, or expected return.","q":"How should the Redfin screening ratio be interpreted?"}],"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":"2021-02-01","rent":1626.273884},{"period":"2021-03-01","rent":1623.871291},{"period":"2021-04-01","rent":1648.140677},{"period":"2021-05-01","rent":1684.253915},{"period":"2021-06-01","rent":1715.73682},{"period":"2021-07-01","rent":1734.811862},{"period":"2021-08-01","rent":1744.84049},{"period":"2021-09-01","rent":1763.496741},{"period":"2021-10-01","rent":1791.496004},{"period":"2021-11-01","rent":1804.390722},{"period":"2021-12-01","rent":1801.320275},{"period":"2022-01-01","rent":1800.670812},{"period":"2022-02-01","rent":1837.298756},{"period":"2022-03-01","rent":1870.850463},{"period":"2022-04-01","rent":1875.08009},{"period":"2022-05-01","rent":1868.214347},{"period":"2022-06-01","rent":1876.125622},{"period":"2022-07-01","rent":1907.752642},{"period":"2022-08-01","rent":1920.871926},{"period":"2022-09-01","rent":1917.911483},{"period":"2022-10-01","rent":1897.016154},{"period":"2022-11-01","rent":1905.714025},{"period":"2022-12-01","rent":1927.551135},{"period":"2023-01-01","rent":1936.699905},{"period":"2023-02-01","rent":1913.052546},{"period":"2023-03-01","rent":1899.726916},{"period":"2023-04-01","rent":1912.040276},{"period":"2023-05-01","rent":1929.372299},{"period":"2023-06-01","rent":1936.75297},{"period":"2023-07-01","rent":1931.673171},{"period":"2023-08-01","rent":1938.432616},{"period":"2023-09-01","rent":1955.30001},{"period":"2023-10-01","rent":1963.755813},{"period":"2023-11-01","rent":1969.221766},{"period":"2023-12-01","rent":1965.212244},{"period":"2024-01-01","rent":1984.567291},{"period":"2024-02-01","rent":1998.631194},{"period":"2024-03-01","rent":2011.401208},{"period":"2024-04-01","rent":2004.657699},{"period":"2024-05-01","rent":2000.012526},{"period":"2024-06-01","rent":1993.683546},{"period":"2024-07-01","rent":2007.330542},{"period":"2024-08-01","rent":2005.813787},{"period":"2024-09-01","rent":2010.718684},{"period":"2024-10-01","rent":2016.789234},{"period":"2024-11-01","rent":2032.770433},{"period":"2024-12-01","rent":2031.60594},{"period":"2025-01-01","rent":2034.62455},{"period":"2025-02-01","rent":2030.12641},{"period":"2025-03-01","rent":2045.202419},{"period":"2025-04-01","rent":2054.401993},{"period":"2025-05-01","rent":2055.067641},{"period":"2025-06-01","rent":2050.314356},{"period":"2025-07-01","rent":2044.174735},{"period":"2025-08-01","rent":2047.661131},{"period":"2025-09-01","rent":2044.01647},{"period":"2025-10-01","rent":2046.549863},{"period":"2025-11-01","rent":2037.372162},{"period":"2025-12-01","rent":2043.31091},{"period":"2026-01-01","rent":2037.176915},{"period":"2026-02-01","rent":2044.300203},{"period":"2026-03-01","rent":2035.177431},{"period":"2026-04-01","rent":2035.257979},{"period":"2026-05-01","rent":2039.811502},{"period":"2026-06-01","rent":2050.573232}],"historySummary":{"pointCount":65,"firstPeriod":"2021-02-01","latestPeriod":"2026-06-01","coverageMonths":65,"coverageRatio":1,"changes":{"1":{"years":1,"startPeriod":"2025-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":2050.314356,"endRent":2050.573232,"change":0.00012626161409978742,"cagr":0.00012626161409978742},"3":{"years":3,"startPeriod":"2023-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1936.75297,"endRent":2050.573232,"change":0.058768600726607056,"cagr":0.01921784223585732},"5":{"years":5,"startPeriod":"2021-06-01","endPeriod":"2026-06-01","startRent":1715.73682,"endRent":2050.573232,"change":0.19515604496964745,"cagr":0.03629862636097547}},"maxDrawdown":-0.01909071658678063,"annualizedVolatility":0.02468592522466811,"consecutiveReturnCount":64}}