Albertville, AL
Income-focused buyers willing to accept slower marketability should investigate Albertville; buyers who need quick resale or strong growth signals should avoid it.
Why this market scores where it does
Written from the figures on this page and then checked against them: every number below had to appear in the source record or recompute from two that did, or the text was rewritten.
Income-focused buyers willing to accept slower marketability should investigate Albertville; buyers who need quick resale or strong growth signals should avoid it. A $248,881 median value and $1,501 median asking rent imply a 7.24% gross yield, before expenses and property-level underwriting.
The demand picture is positive but muted: LAUS jobs rose 0.46%, rents rose 1.82%, and tax filings show net migration of 152 households. Home values increased 2.72%, faster than rents, so recent pricing movement has not improved the rent-to-value relationship.
Opportunity lies in buyer leverage, not scarcity: inventory stands at 6 months, median time on market is 71 days, and 24.42% of listings had price drops. The trade-off is weak rent momentum and inland-flood exposure; the published climate loss ratio is 0.1609% of building value annually. Underwrite achievable rent, exit liquidity, and parcel-specific flood risk before pursuing a deal.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
How does median asking rent compare with the published two-bedroom fair market rent?
Did migration add households, and how did mover incomes compare?
How much investor activity is reported?
Investor Quick Takeaways
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Albertville as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 66 | 30% | 19.80 |
| Rent trend | 27 | 25% | 6.75 |
| Affordability | 26 | 15% | 3.90 |
| Supply pressure | 21 | 15% | 3.15 |
| Climate risk | 39 | 15% | 5.85 |
| Published score | 39 | ||
LAUS employment rose 0.46% year over year -> the job backdrop is positive but modest.
Rent rose 1.82% while home values rose 2.72% -> recent growth favored acquisition prices over rental income.
Rent equals 28.78% of median income and price equals 3.98 times income -> tenant budgets and purchase pricing both require close underwriting.
Inventory is 6 months, median time on market is 71 days, and 24.42% of listings had price drops -> buyers may have negotiating leverage but face slower exits.
Inland flood is the dominant hazard and annual climate loss equals 0.1609% of building value -> parcel-level flood exposure needs verification.
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- Rent growth trails home-value growth, weakening the recent rent-to-value direction.
- Inventory of 6 months, a 71-day median market time, and price drops on 24.42% of listings indicate that exit liquidity could disappoint.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, with published annual climate losses equal to 0.1609% of building value.
Move from the metro average to local evidence
County pages carry tax, migration, listing and hazard records. City pages appear only where direct city price, rent and Census evidence pass the publication gate.
No city in this metro has passed the current city evidence gate.
Metros that behave like Albertville
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Metro | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albertville, AL (Target) | 39 | $249k | $1,501 | 7.2% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Bay City, MI | 63 | $189k | $1,178 | 7.5% | ▲ 0.3% |
| Sunbury, PA | 73 | $177k | $1,037 | 7.0% | ▲ 0.5% |
| Battle Creek, MI | 81 | $192k | $1,126 | 7.0% | ▲ 0.7% |
| Lima, OH | 66 | $196k | $1,177 | 7.2% | ▲ 0.1% |
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-07-31 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI 2025 | 2026-07-28 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-23 | 2026-07-27 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-27 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |