Athens, OH
Athens merits investigation by yield-focused buyers willing to underwrite flood exposure; buyers unwilling to accept climate and migration risk 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.
Athens merits investigation by yield-focused buyers willing to underwrite flood exposure; buyers unwilling to accept climate and migration risk should avoid it. Median asking rent rose 11.03% year over year, gross yield is 6.24%, and the median home value is $191,297. That rent-to-value relationship warrants deal-level review but does not establish property-level cash flow.
Affordability is another supportive signal: rent equals 21.31% of median household income. On supply, the record shows 58 permits and 3.7 months of for-sale inventory. However, a 24.24% price-drop rate and a median 40 days on market suggest buyers should test resale assumptions rather than treat the supply figures as automatic pricing power.
The main tension is positive employment and rent signals against inland-flood exposure and household outflow. Jobs grew 1.01%, while tax filings show net migration of -132 households and higher average income among movers leaving than arriving. Focus diligence on flood insurance, building-level water exposure, achievable rent, and local demand depth before bidding.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What rent economics does the record report?
What do tax filings show about household movement?
What share of purchase mortgages went to non-occupants?
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 Athens 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 | 81 | 30% | 24.30 |
| Rent trend | 97 | 25% | 24.25 |
| Affordability | 74 | 15% | 11.10 |
| Supply pressure | 75 | 15% | 11.25 |
| Climate risk | 25 | 15% | 3.75 |
| Published score | 75 | ||
Jobs rose 1.01% year over year -> employment direction is positive, but sector durability is not published.
Asking rent rose 11.03% and gross yield is 6.24% -> verify achievable rent and expenses before treating the rent signal as cash flow.
Rent equals 21.31% of median household income and price-to-income is 3.42 -> screen actual tenant incomes and purchase basis rather than assuming metro medians apply.
Permits total 58 and for-sale supply is 3.7 months -> the record does not show abundant new or listed inventory.
The climate loss ratio is 0.1933% and inland flood is dominant -> insurance terms and water exposure require property-level review.
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
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and the annual climate loss ratio is 0.1933% of building value, creating insurance and damage-cost exposure.
- Tax filings show net migration of -132 households, while average income was $44,410 inbound versus $46,954 outbound; both are adverse demand signals.
- A 24.24% listing price-drop rate and a median of 40 days on market indicate resale friction.
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 Athens
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens, OH (Target) | 75 | $191k | $994 | 6.2% | ▲ 1.0% |
| Searcy, AR | 52 | $211k | $1,076 | 6.1% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Branson, MO | 47 | $252k | $1,313 | 6.3% | ▲ 0.9% |
| Indiana, PA | 87 | $174k | $873 | 6.0% | ▲ 0.8% |
| Hutchinson, KS | 66 | $159k | $855 | 6.5% | ▲ 0.6% |
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 |