Walla Walla, WA
Walla Walla merits investigation by buyers prioritizing rent momentum and manageable tenant costs, but investors dependent on immediate appreciation or strong employment growth 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.
Walla Walla merits investigation by buyers prioritizing rent momentum and manageable tenant costs, but investors dependent on immediate appreciation or strong employment growth should avoid it. Asking rent rose 3.35% while home values increased 0.78%, supporting rental economics without evidence of comparable price momentum.
The opportunity is a median asking rent of $1,492 against a $1,550 fair-market rent, while rent consumes 24.12% of median household income. However, the 4.22% gross yield leaves limited room before financing, vacancies, repairs, management, taxes, and insurance, none of which are published here.
Risk is concentrated in weak jobs and buyer negotiating conditions. Employment fell 1.25%; inventory stands at 4.9 months, and 37.5% of listings had price drops. Net migration was slightly negative, although incoming movers had higher average income than outgoing movers. Investigate only with property-level expenses, flood exposure, and achievable rent verified.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
Do migration figures show household growth?
Are incoming movers financially stronger than outgoing movers?
How active are investors in local financed purchases?
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 Walla Walla 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 | 10 | 30% | 3.00 |
| Rent trend | 51 | 25% | 12.75 |
| Affordability | 53 | 15% | 7.95 |
| Supply pressure | 14 | 15% | 2.10 |
| Climate risk | 60 | 15% | 9.00 |
| Published score | 35 | ||
Job: CES employment fell 1.25% year over year -> weaker payroll demand could limit tenant formation and make rent gains harder to sustain.
Rent: Asking rent rose 3.35% to $1,492, versus a $1,550 two-bedroom fair-market rent -> recent rent momentum exists, but buyers should verify that the target unit can achieve the benchmark.
Afford: Rent equals 24.12% of median household income, while home value equals 5.71 times income -> renting appears manageable for the median household, but acquisition prices are relatively demanding against local incomes.
Supply: There were 326 permits, 4.9 months of for-sale supply, and 37.5% of listings had price drops -> new construction and seller concessions require disciplined underwriting rather than assuming scarce inventory.
Climate: The recorded annual climate loss ratio is 0.1278%, with inland flood identified as the dominant hazard -> property-level flood location, coverage, exclusions, and premiums need confirmation before purchase.
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
- Employment contracted year over year, so current rent growth may not be supported by improving payroll conditions.
- The gross yield is measured before financing, vacancy, repairs, management, taxes, and insurance; those expense figures are not published and could materially reduce cash flow.
- For-sale conditions show negotiating pressure, with 43 median days on market and frequent price drops, creating a risk that resale values or exit timing disappoint.
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 Walla Walla
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walla Walla, WA (Target) | 35 | $424k | $1,492 | 4.2% | ▼ 1.3% |
| Brainerd, MN | 43 | $369k | $1,237 | 4.0% | ▼ 1.5% |
| Albany, OR | 27 | $414k | $1,639 | 4.8% | ▼ 1.4% |
| Moses Lake, WA | 30 | $363k | $1,479 | 4.9% | ▼ 0.9% |
| Pocatello, ID | 32 | $356k | $1,078 | 3.6% | ▼ 1.1% |
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 |