Rent-minus-value gap: +61.3 pp.
Five-year momentum · constrained national screen
Markets where rent growth ran ahead of home values
Direct Zillow ZORI and ZHVI endpoints reveal where asking rents and typical home values moved at different speeds.
Question answeredWhere did five-year asking-rent growth exceed typical-home-value growth by the widest margin?
Visual ranking
The leading ten, with one metric encoded.
The chart stays intentionally narrow: it shows the ordering metric, while the table and counter-signals keep the rest of the decision visible.
The median of the ten displayed leaders, not a national threshold.
The table preserves the counter-metrics needed before opening a market brief.
Evidence table
Top twenty qualifying market areas.
Each row links to the full metro evidence. Figures retain the units and concepts named in the column headers.
| Rank | Market area | Growth gap | Rent change | Home-value change | Ending home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Abilene, TX | +61.3 pp | 87.0% | +25.6% | $219.8k |
| #2 | Johnstown, PA | +45.5 pp | 36.4% | −9.2% | $120.5k |
| #3 | Williston, ND | +36.7 pp | 50.0% | +13.3% | $355.7k |
| #4 | New Orleans, LA | +24.3 pp | 19.8% | −4.5% | $264.9k |
| #5 | Sumter, SC | +22.6 pp | 38.6% | +16.0% | $209.3k |
| #6 | Redding, CA | +21.8 pp | 30.4% | +8.5% | $377.3k |
| #7 | Jackson, MI | +21.8 pp | 43.2% | +21.3% | $229.7k |
| #8 | Oak Harbor, WA | +21.8 pp | 34.2% | +12.4% | $647.3k |
| #9 | Beaumont, TX | +21.3 pp | 24.8% | +3.6% | $188.1k |
| #10 | San Francisco, CA | +20.9 pp | 24.7% | +3.8% | $1.14m |
| #11 | Punta Gorda, FL | +19.9 pp | 27.1% | +7.2% | $299.1k |
| #12 | Shreveport, LA | +19.8 pp | 24.4% | +4.6% | $185.7k |
| #13 | Fairbanks, AK | +19.7 pp | 29.3% | +9.6% | $316.2k |
| #14 | Ruston, LA | +18.5 pp | 26.7% | +8.2% | $227.2k |
| #15 | Odessa, TX | +18.1 pp | 31.9% | +13.8% | $255.5k |
| #16 | Tuscaloosa, AL | +17.8 pp | 34.7% | +16.9% | $221.8k |
| #17 | Corvallis, OR | +17.6 pp | 37.9% | +20.3% | $563.5k |
| #18 | Salinas, CA | +17.0 pp | 33.2% | +16.1% | $854.7k |
| #19 | Midland, TX | +16.9 pp | 32.3% | +15.3% | $331k |
| #20 | Florence, AL | +16.9 pp | 44.7% | +27.9% | $219.1k |
Method and limits
What this order means—and what it does not.
This is a repeatable screening order, not an investment recommendation, forecast or property-level estimate.
Inclusion and ordering rule: Include every current RentMarker market area with direct Zillow ZORI and ZHVI observations in the latest month and the same month five years earlier. Assign the market to the Census region of its primary state, then summarize unweighted market medians within each of the four regions.
How it is calculated
- Five-year asking-rent change divides the ending direct monthly ZORI value by the same-month starting value and subtracts one.
- Five-year typical-home-value change applies the identical calculation and endpoints to direct monthly ZHVI.
- The growth gap subtracts home-value change from asking-rent change; regional values are unweighted medians of complete markets, not population-weighted scores.
Counter-signals to carry
- A positive gap can reflect faster rent growth, slower home-value growth or both, so the two component changes must remain visible.
- Current levels, yield, employment, supply and migration can differ sharply between markets with similar five-year movement.
- Regional medians describe a broad distribution and do not replace the individual market record or local due diligence.
Limits before use
- ZHVI and ZORI are smoothed market indexes, not a matched property portfolio or observed acquisition-and-lease pair.
- Only direct same-month endpoints enter; missing observations remain unavailable and no interpolation or imputation is used.
- The changes are nominal, the Census region follows the market's primary state, and historical movement does not prove future rent, appreciation or return.
Source ledger
Named releases behind this ranking.
Release period and pull date remain attached so a later refresh can reproduce a different order honestly.
Census ACS 5-year — populationACS 2024 5-yearPulled 2026-07-26OMB/BLS delineation — metro geographyOMB July 2023 delineationPulled 2026-07-30Zillow ZHVI — metro home valuesMetro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csvPulled 2026-07-26Zillow ZORI — metro market rentsMetro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csvPulled 2026-07-26
Next decision
Move from a market screen to a property test.
Open the market evidence first, then replace market-wide typicals with the candidate property’s actual price, rent and operating assumptions.