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Cash-flow lean

Elizabeth City, NC

Headline affordability is not enough here; the deal needs tighter basis and cleaner execution. In the latest Zillow Research data, home values are still rising while rents are still moving up.

Last updated 2026-07-31

F39/100
High-caution marketF grade · 39/100 market scoreOnly worth deeper work when the specific deal is clearly better than the market average.

Elizabeth City, NC is still moving on both price and rent, but values are running ahead of rent support. That makes it a better market for disciplined entries than for lazy underwriting.

Analyze a property in this marketBack to marketsAverage deal analysis in Elizabeth City

Average deal benchmark

Average deal in this market

This is the quick market-level baseline for what a typical deal looks like before you underwrite a real address.

Typical priceVerified
$273,372Typical market home value
Typical rentVerified
$1,538Average monthly rent
Rent-to-valueEstimated
6.75%Gross annual rent divided by home value
1-year rent trendVerified
+0.0%Recent rent direction

Verified metrics come from sourced market files. Estimated metrics are derived from those inputs.

Strategy fit

What's working in this market

Elizabeth City, NC is classified as a cash-flow market, with rent support showing up in a 6.75% rent-to-value strength and an average rent of $1,538 against a typical home value of $273,372. That combination suggests the market may offer better income alignment than appreciation-heavy markets, where prices often run far ahead of rents.

The caution flag is important, though: the overall market score is 39/100, and the market is labeled Higher caution. Rents are flat over the past year at +0.0%, while home values are up +2.6%, with price-vs-rent pressure at +2.5%. That means investors should be careful about assuming rent growth will bail out a thin deal.

Which strategy this favors

This market currently favors a buy-and-hold cash-flow investor more than a flip-focused investor, because the strongest signal is rent support rather than rapid growth: 6.75% rent-to-value strength, $1,538 average rent, and a Cash-flow lean tag. BRRRR or house-hack strategies may still work deal by deal, but the 39/100 score and flat +0.0% rent trend make disciplined purchase price, financing, and reserve planning especially important.

Generated from this market's real Zillow-backed metrics only — not a recommendation, and not informed by facts about the city beyond the numbers shown above.

County snapshot

Local context inside the market

These counties add local context after the market screen. Use them to see where conditions look stronger or weaker before you underwrite a specific address.

Leaflet © OpenStreetMap contributors

Pasquotank County · 45/100

Home value: $269,787Average rent: $1,524Rent-to-value: 6.78%

Sourced metrics

What the sourced market data says

Rating breakdown

How the screening score is built

Rent-to-value strength50% weight
6.75%Higher rent-to-value ratios improve the first-pass screen.
1-year rent trend25% weight
+0.0%Positive rent growth improves the score.
Price-vs-rent pressure25% weight
+2.5%When home values run ahead of rents, the score gets penalized.

Underwriting

What this means for deal analysis

  • Use the market average as a screening shortcut, not a recommendation.
  • Keep financing and exit assumptions disciplined because price pressure is outrunning the rent line.
  • Do not turn market averages into cap-rate claims without real taxes, insurance, management, and repair assumptions.
Verify before you buy

Market averages are a screen, not a verdict

  • Validate listing-level rent comps before trusting the market average.
  • Run financing and reserve assumptions with enough margin to survive a worse-than-average deal.
  • Check whether the target county is outperforming or lagging the broader market before you bid.
Methodology

How this page is built

  • Numeric market metrics are pulled from Zillow Research metro files at build time, not copied by hand.
  • County context uses Zillow Research county files plus Census TIGERweb county polygons so the local snapshot maps to real boundaries.
  • The overall market score is a transparent screening heuristic built from rent-to-value, 1-year rent trend, and price-vs-rent pressure.
  • Unsupported metrics such as days-to-pending are intentionally removed instead of scraped or inferred.

Zillow Research ZHVI metro file

Metro home values as of 2026-07-31.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZORI metro file

Metro rents as of 2026-07-31.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZHVI county file

County home values used for the supporting county snapshot.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow Research ZORI county file

County rents used for the supporting county snapshot.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Census TIGERweb county polygons

Official county boundaries used to render the city-level map footprint.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15

Zillow research definitions

Reference definitions for Zillow housing and rent market metrics.

Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15
FAQ

Common questions

Why does this page show a score at all?

The market score is a transparent screening heuristic built from Zillow Research home-value, rent-trend, and rent-to-value inputs. It is not a buy recommendation or a substitute for address-level underwriting.

What do the county snapshots represent?

The page shows county-level snapshots inside the market footprint so you can see where conditions look stronger or weaker. Treat them as supporting context, not automatic buy boxes.

What should I do after reading this page?

Use the page to decide whether the market deserves deeper attention, then run a real property-level analysis inside InstantlyAnalyze before making an offer.