Typical priceVerified
$448,165Typical market home valueBalanced
Wilmington, NC
This market needs sharper assumptions before it earns deeper attention. In the latest Zillow Research data, home values have softened while rents are still moving up.
F43/100
High-caution marketF grade · 43/100 market scoreOnly worth deeper work when the specific deal is clearly better than the market average.
Wilmington, NC is more interesting because basis has softened while rents are holding up better. That can create better screening conditions than the headline market mood suggests.
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 rentVerified
$1,726Average monthly rentRent-to-valueEstimated
4.62%Gross annual rent divided by home value1-year rent trendVerified
+3.5%Recent rent directionVerified metrics come from sourced market files. Estimated metrics are derived from those inputs.
Strategy fit
What's working in this market
Wilmington, NC is classified as a balanced market, but the overall score of 43/100 points to higher caution. The typical home value is $448,165 against an average rent of $1,726, producing rent-to-value strength of 4.62%, so income support exists but does not look especially aggressive on the numbers provided.
The market shows some rent support, with rents up 3.5% over one year, while home values are essentially flat at -0.1%. Price-vs-rent pressure is -3.6%, which suggests rents are holding up better than prices right now. That combination can help patient investors, but the higher-caution score means deals likely need careful underwriting rather than relying on broad market momentum.
Which strategy this favors
This market currently favors a cautious buy-and-hold investor more than a flip-heavy approach, because rent support is positive at +3.5% and values are nearly flat at -0.1%. BRRRR or house-hack strategies may work on individual deals, but with a 43/100 score and 4.62% rent-to-value strength, the numbers point more toward selective long-term holding than aggressive repositioning.
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
Pender County · 68/100
Home value: $439,797Average rent: $2,057Rent-to-value: 5.61%
New Hanover County · 40/100
Home value: $451,113Average rent: $1,696Rent-to-value: 4.51%
Sourced metrics
What the sourced market data says
RatingEstimated
43/100Weighted from rent-to-value, 1-year rent change, and price-vs-rent pressure. This is a screening heuristic, not a recommendation.Derived from Zillow Research inputs · 2026-07-31Home valueVerified
$448,165Metro typical home value from Zillow Research. 1-year change -0.1%.Zillow Research ZHVI (metro) · 2026-07-311-year valueVerified
-0.1%Directional value signal from Zillow Research, not a forecast.Zillow Research ZHVI (metro) · 2026-07-31Average rentVerified
$1,726Metro average rent from Zillow Research. 1-year change +3.5%.Zillow Research ZORI (metro) · 2026-07-311-year rentVerified
+3.5%Directional rent signal from Zillow Research, useful for underwriting assumptions.Zillow Research ZORI (metro) · 2026-07-31Rent-to-valueEstimated
4.62%Derived from Zillow Research rent and home-value inputs. This is a screening ratio, not cap rate or yield.Derived from Zillow Research ZHVI + ZORI · 2026-07-31Rating breakdown
How the screening score is built
Rent-to-value strength50% weight
4.62%Higher rent-to-value ratios improve the first-pass screen.1-year rent trend25% weight
+3.5%Positive rent growth improves the score.Price-vs-rent pressure25% weight
-3.6%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.
- Watch for listings where softer pricing is giving you better rent support than the metro headline implies.
- Do not turn market averages into cap-rate claims without real taxes, insurance, management, and repair assumptions.
Verify before you buyMarket averages are a screen, not a verdict
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.
MethodologyHow this page is built
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 2026-09-15Zillow Research ZORI metro file
Metro rents as of 2026-07-31.
Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15Zillow Research ZHVI county file
County home values used for the supporting county snapshot.
Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15Zillow Research ZORI county file
County rents used for the supporting county snapshot.
Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15Census TIGERweb county polygons
Official county boundaries used to render the city-level map footprint.
Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15Zillow research definitions
Reference definitions for Zillow housing and rent market metrics.
Open sourceAccessed 2026-09-15FAQCommon questions
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.