$1,316 is the June 2026 Zillow ZORI for 78412, a typical observed asking-rent index blended across rental types rather than a lease quote for any one home. That ZIP reading was 1.0% above its same month one year earlier. For wider context, Corpus Christi city’s Zillow rent was $1,414.56, Nueces County’s Zillow rent was $1,415, and the Corpus Christi, TX metro Zillow rent was $1,422; each is a broader-scope comparator, not a ZIP substitute. The current ZIP index is below all three contextual asking-rent readings, but those gaps do not establish the rent of a specific available unit or explain why the levels differ.
The longer rent tape makes the calm current reading less simple. Exact same-month Zillow ZORI changes through the stated endpoint annualize to 1.0% over one year, 0.2% over three years, and 1.2% over five years. Recent direction therefore broadly confirms a modest longer path while exceeding the especially subdued three-year pace; it does not demonstrate acceleration beyond the observed endpoint. Monthly change variability annualized to 3.5%, supporting the high-variability designation and reducing confidence in a single current snapshot as a stable reference. Separately, the largest peak-to-trough decline was 5.8%, showing material historical reversals. The series has 100% coverage, with transparent national discovery ranks of 2,129 for momentum, 2,199 for stability, and 2,525 for the balanced score among history-eligible ZIPs, where lower ranks are higher. These are backward-looking measurements, not forecasts or investment recommendations.
The five-digit 78412 label is both a Zillow ZIP market identifier and a Census ZCTA match. A ZCTA is a statistical area and is not identical to a USPS delivery ZIP. The ACS five-year ZCTA median gross rent is $1,322 with a $51 margin of error, a survey of occupied renter homes that includes selected utilities; the Zillow asking-rent index equals 99.5% of that amount. In contrast, the HUD two-bedroom FMR/SAFMR is $1,366, an administrative bedroom-specific standard rather than asking rent. To express bedroom sizing around the ZIP index, modelled monthly estimates scale Zillow ZORI using the local HUD ladder: $993 for a studio, $1,076 for one bedroom, $1,316 for two bedrooms, $1,730 for three bedrooms, and $1,979 for four bedrooms. These are modelled estimates, never measured bedroom rents.
Income and burden present a different tension: the arithmetic rent screen is lower than the observed burden prevalence. The ACS five-year ZCTA median household income is $61,215 with a $3,970 margin of error. At 30%, $1,316 monthly asking rent corresponds to $52,640 in annual required income, and the simple asking-rent-to-income screen is 25.8%. This is arithmetic, not advice or an applicant qualification rule. Yet 48.5% of occupied renter households reported spending at least 30% of income on gross rent. Because gross rent includes selected utilities and the ACS frame covers occupied homes, this burden result cannot prove what any particular available unit costs or whether a prospective household is burdened.
The ACS ZCTA housing base contains 17,120 units, including 1,507 vacant units, for an 8.8% vacancy rate. Renters occupy 55.1% of occupied homes, making renter households the larger tenure group in this statistical area. Stock includes 8,687 single-family units alongside large multifamily structures, a composition count rather than a measure of rental availability or condition. Of vacant homes, 582 were classified for rent. These counts come from the ACS five-year ZCTA universe rather than a contemporaneous listing feed. Vacancy does not reveal concessions, physical quality, lease terms, or availability for a particular address.
Resale is the counterweight to the gently positive rent history. In Redfin’s direct rolling-three-month ZIP resale observation, median sold price was $195,931, down 9.9% year over year. The ZIP recorded 68 homes sold, a 33-day median marketing time, 128 homes of inventory, and 5.7 months of supply. Sellers averaged 96.2% of list price; that is a for-sale market signal only, not evidence about rental transactions. Dividing annualized ZIP ZORI by median sold price produces an 8.1% cross-source screening ratio, not a property-level return measure. Lower sale pricing alongside a mildly rising asking-rent index challenges any reading of that rent screen as a complete valuation signal, while supply and sale-to-list evidence must remain separate from lease-demand evidence.
Taken together, the evidence does not offer one clean directional story. The ZIP asking-rent index sits below city, county, and metro asking-rent context, while its own history is positive but uneven. The income screen appears less stretched than the observed share of renter households with gross-rent burdens, a difference that follows from distinct source frames and household circumstances rather than a contradiction that can be resolved from aggregates alone. Meanwhile, the resale record shows lower sold pricing and negotiating signals that challenge a rent-only view. The renter-majority and for-rent vacancy counts describe the ACS statistical area; the price and liquidity measures describe direct ZIP resales. They cannot be joined into a claim that a particular property will lease or resell under stated terms.
Important limits remain before applying these figures to an address. Zillow ZORI is a blended asking-rent index, ACS gross rent is a five-year occupied-household survey with margins of error, HUD standards are administrative benchmarks, and Redfin observations concern resale rather than rentals. Address-level verification would need current like-for-like advertised or signed leases by bedroom count, utility inclusions, lease term, concessions, and actual availability rather than a ZORI or gross-rent proxy. For a resale-linked review, concrete checks include the property’s list and sale history, time on market, competing active listings, condition, bedroom count, and whether the observed resale figures match the relevant property type. Those checks determine whether this ZIP-level evidence is relevant to the individual property being considered.