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Balanced

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA

Still a viable first screen, though not one that justifies loose assumptions. In the latest Zillow Research data, home values are still rising while rents are still moving up.

Last updated 2026-07-31

C62/100
Watchlist marketC grade · 62/100 market scoreWorth selective attention, but not a market to underwrite loosely.

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA still has price and rent momentum moving in the same direction. It screens best when you want a market that has not fully rolled over, but it still needs address-level discipline.

Analyze a property in this marketBack to marketsAverage deal analysis in Waterloo

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
$201,600Typical market home value
Typical rentVerified
$1,006Average monthly rent
Rent-to-valueEstimated
5.99%Gross annual rent divided by home value
1-year rent trendVerified
+4.2%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

Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA screens as a balanced market with an overall score of 62/100, which puts it in the Strong screen range. The numbers suggest a market where rents are doing meaningful work for investors: rent-to-value strength is 5.99%, average rent is $1,006, and the 1-year rent trend is up 4.2%.

Home values are moving more slowly, with a typical home value of $201,600 and a 1-year home value change of +1.5%. Price-vs-rent pressure is -2.7%, which supports the idea that rents are relatively constructive compared with prices right now. This tends to fit investors who want a balanced setup rather than a market driven purely by rapid appreciation or distressed-value upside.

Which strategy this favors

This market currently favors buy-and-hold investors most clearly, with some support for house-hack buyers, because the 5.99% rent-to-value strength, +4.2% rent trend, and -2.7% price-vs-rent pressure point to rent support while home value growth is steadier at +1.5%. The numbers are less directly aligned with flip or BRRRR strategies, which usually need stronger evidence of deep discounts, faster price movement, or clear rehab spread.

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.

County overlays are loading for this market.

Black Hawk County · 69/100

Home value: $189,774Average rent: $1,010Rent-to-value: 6.38%

Sourced metrics

What the sourced market data says

Rating breakdown

How the screening score is built

Rent-to-value strength50% weight
5.99%Higher rent-to-value ratios improve the first-pass screen.
1-year rent trend25% weight
+4.2%Positive rent growth improves the score.
Price-vs-rent pressure25% weight
-2.7%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.
  • Do not let the metro snapshot override the actual basis, rent comps, and operating drag on the address.
  • 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.