Palestine, TX

Palestine, TX’s metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area has a population of 58,439, but its usable decision evidence is a set of measures with different scopes rather than a single market verdict. Because the trailing-12-month Zillow rent change is unavailable, the area is unranked and this report does not assign a score or rank. The remaining record frames questions rather than conclusions: Zillow addresses asking rent and home values; Census and HUD frame income and a rent benchmark; BLS, Census Building Permits, and Redfin report separate activity and listing measures; IRS, HMDA, and FEMA cover migration, mortgage-occupancy participation, and risk. The dates and definitions must remain attached to each reading.

At the 2026-06-30 Zillow reading, the home-value index was $221100 and the asking-rent index was $1340. The reported year-over-year home-value change was 0.0169. The supplied gross-yield figure of 0.0727 is a price-and-rent screen, not a net-income result. The packet has no operating-cost, financing, tax, insurance-premium, or vacancy figures that would convert it into a net-income result. Zillow’s stated scope is asking rent, so its level does not establish collected rent. A current rent level beside a positive home-value change is a snapshot of distinct indexes, not evidence about rent momentum or lease outcomes. No directional rent statement follows: Zillow does not publish enough history to calculate the trailing-12-month rent change.

Census ACS places median household income at $62068. The supplied rent-to-income ratio is 0.259, and the price-to-income ratio is 3.56. HUD’s FY2026 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is $1117. In a direct comparison of the supplied levels, Zillow’s $1340 asking-rent index exceeds that HUD benchmark by $223, and the supplied rent-versus-FMR relationship is 1.199. This is an affordability boundary, not an observed household burden. Census ACS income, HUD’s two-bedroom Fair Market Rent, and Zillow’s asking-rent index answer different measurement questions; their relationship cannot identify household size, qualification, utility treatment, or the rent actually paid.

BLS’s LAUS measure reports a 0.0212 year-over-year job change for the 12 months through 2026-05. The Census Building Permits Survey reports 36 total permits during 2026 YTD through M06, 0.62 permits per 1k population, and 0.0 permits in its 5-plus category. That is an authorization record, not a count of completed or occupied homes. Redfin’s 2026-05-01 listing record shows 4.2 months of supply compared with 6.7 prior, a 2.5-month difference, and median days on market of 77 compared with 105 prior, a 28-day difference. Yet Redfin’s sale-to-list ratio is 0.9095 and its price-drop share is 0.2768 versus 0.2629 prior, a 0.0139 difference. Less listed supply and shorter market time coexist with an increased price-drop share and a 0.9095 sale-to-list ratio; neither BLS nor permits supplies a stated link between those readings.

IRS county-to-county tax-return migration, aggregated to this market, records 1233 moved in and 1172 moved out, for the supplied net migration of 61. Its incoming AGI measure is $56972, versus $51765 outgoing, a supplied AGI gap of $5207. HMDA’s 2024 purchase-mortgage occupancy evidence records 393 total purchases and 33 investor purchases, with an investor share of 0.084. These sources illuminate different populations. IRS movement is based on tax-return migration, whereas HMDA is mortgage-occupancy evidence, and the latter does not enumerate transactions outside that stated scope. A positive net movement figure, an AGI gap, and an investor share therefore cannot be merged into a single measure of renter demand, owner demand, or all investor participation.

FEMA’s National Risk Index supplies expected annual loss evidence, not an itemized local expense schedule. Its risk score is 73.6, the climate loss ratio is 0.000936, and the packet identifies inland flood as the top hazard within the water hazard type. These are market-level risk indicators; they do not establish an insurance premium, repair cost, mitigation cost, tax burden, or a building-specific exposure. The available price-and-rent measures from Zillow, and the HUD benchmark, are likewise not operating-cost evidence. Consequently, the packet can identify a risk-and-cost information gap but cannot translate FEMA’s indicators into a net housing cost or a property-level financial outcome.

The practical due-diligence synthesis is a set of unresolved comparisons, not a rent, purchase, or investment instruction. For a renter, the open record is whether available asking units resemble Zillow’s index and how the HUD two-bedroom benchmark relates to relevant lease terms and household-income evidence. For a landlord or small investor, it is whether observed asking rents are reflected in signed leases, how the 36 permits progress beyond authorization, and what the Redfin supply, market-time, sale-to-list, and price-drop measures look like alongside completed transactions. For all decision types, the missing cost record around FEMA’s inland-flood indicator, the distinct IRS migration and HMDA mortgage-occupancy populations, and the unavailable Zillow trailing-12-month rent change remain separate questions. Treating one as a substitute for another would exceed the record: the current evidence supports comparisons, but not a score, rank, forecast, causal explanation, neighborhood conclusion, or property conclusion.