The strongest signal in 77092 is a split: the asking-rent series has accelerated while the direct resale series has weakened. At June 2026, Zillow ZORI is $1,539 per month, a typical observed ZIP asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a quoted rent for a particular dwelling. Its exact same-month change is 4.5% over one year, versus 0.4% annualized over three years and 3.3% over five years. The latest direction confirms the positive five-year path but breaks from the subdued three-year run. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts. Annualized monthly-return variability is 3.4%, maximum drawdown is -5.4%, and historical coverage is 98.4%. Transparent national discovery ranks among history-eligible ZIPs are 1,262 for momentum, 2,153 for stability, and 1,824 for balanced performance; lower ranks are higher. That volatility and drawdown history limits confidence in any single current rent snapshot.
The five-digit label 77092 is both Zillow’s ZIP market identifier and the match to the Census ZCTA used for ACS. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The matched ACS 2024 five-year survey places median gross rent at $1,276, 20.6% below the Zillow index. The difference does not establish a rent change by itself. ACS surveys occupied renter homes over five years and median gross rent includes selected utilities; Zillow represents current typical observed asking rent and blends rental types. Thus ACS is neither a current advertised-rent comp nor a quote for vacant homes. Its $60 margin of error is survey uncertainty around the rent median, a different limitation from movement in Zillow’s index.
Bedroom detail is a model, not an observation. The studio, one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom figures of $1,249, $1,294, $1,539, $2,074, and $2,587 are modelled ZIP estimates, created by scaling the ZIP ZORI with the local FY2026 HUD ladder; they are never measured bedroom rents. HUD FMR/SAFMR is an administrative bedroom-specific standard, not asking rent. Its local two-bedroom standard is $1,380, so the ZIP index is 11.5% higher on that comparison. That does not turn ZORI into a two-bedroom reading or HUD into a lease offer. The ladder offers proportional bedroom sizing only; a specific dwelling can differ from those modelled estimates.
On the supplied 30% screen, annual income of $61,560 is the arithmetic amount that makes the $1,539 monthly ZIP index equal that share of income. It is not advice and not an applicant qualification rule. The matched ZCTA’s ACS median household income is $58,728, making that simple screen 31.4%; this is a broad household median rather than a renter-specific income test. ACS further estimates that 55.2% of renter households spend that share or more on gross rent. Because the burden measure uses gross rent, including selected utilities, it does not duplicate ZORI. Nor does this population-level burden result prove the rent burden, payment outcome, or eligibility of anyone in a particular unit.
Stock indicators show a renter-heavy ZCTA, but they do not certify availability in a particular building. The ACS survey counts 16,456 housing units and 1,655 vacant units, for a 10.1% vacancy rate, while renter households represent 59.4% of occupied homes. The structural mix includes single-family units and units in large multifamily structures. Of the recorded vacancies, 1,140 are for rent. These are ZCTA five-year stock and vacancy measures, not a live listing feed. In particular, an area vacancy rate or a for-rent vacancy count cannot establish whether a given apartment is vacant, its asking price, its condition, or the terms under which it can be leased.
On wider-market context, the ZIP index sits below the Houston city context asking-rent index of $1,567, the Harris County context asking-rent index of $1,600, and the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, TX metro context asking-rent index of $1,648. Each is named as city, county, or metro context in the same comparison and none is a ZIP-level rental comp. The ZIP renter share is higher than the county context; its vacancy rate is lower than the city context but higher than the county context. The metro context also has a lower rent-to-income screen than the ZIP arithmetic screen. Those geographic comparisons frame scale only and do not explain the ZIP’s rent movement, alter its source definitions, or establish conditions at a property.
Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation reports a $312,429 median sold price, down 10.7% year over year. It recorded 64 homes sold and a median 28 days on market, alongside 204 active listings, an inventory measure of 85 homes, and 4.0 months of supply. Average sale to list was 97.9%, while 19.4% of sales closed above list. This is direct ZIP for-sale evidence, not rental transactions, rental comps, or property economics. The sale-price decline challenges a simple interpretation that the recent ZORI acceleration and the more stretched ZIP income screen coexist with uniformly firm local pricing. Yet the recorded sales and marketing measures speak only to resale liquidity and negotiation signals; they cannot confirm the rent index, explain it, or turn the rent-to-price screen into an investment result.
Annualized ZIP ZORI divided by Redfin median sale price is 5.9%, but it is only a cross-source screening ratio. It must not be interpreted as a cap rate, net return, expected return, or property yield. The two inputs have different universes, and the packet contains no property operating costs, financing terms, or unit-level lease performance. Before applying a ZIP screen to a dwelling, check its advertised rent, bedroom count, included utilities, lease duration, availability date, and any actual sale/list information. Those checks are needed because Zillow blends rental types, ACS describes occupied survey homes, HUD supplies an administrative standard, and Redfin describes rolling resale activity. Do the advertised unit’s terms actually align with any of these separate benchmarks?