Zillow and Census data, September 2026
Rental property math in Palm Bay, FL
A typical Palm Bay home is worth $342,339 and a typical single-family rental there gets $2,232 a month, 0.65% of the price. At 80% LTV and an assumed 7.25% rate, rent divided by the full payment is 1.00x. A DSCR loan needs 1.05x, which takes $2,333 of rent, $101 more than typical.
- Typical home value
- $342,339-0.5% in a year
- Single-family rent
- $2,232+2.9% in a year
- Rent / price, monthly
- 0.65%208th of 574 metros
- Property tax rate
- 0.64%$2,191 a year on the typical home
- DSCR at 80% LTV
- 1.00x171st of 574; 1.05x needed
- Cash to close
- $78,73820% down + 3% costs
The DSCR on the typical Palm Bay house
Loan: $342,339 × 80% = $273,871. At 7.25% over 30 years, principal and interest are $1,868 a month. Taxes: $342,339 × 0.64% = $2,191 a year, $183 a month. Insurance, assumed at 0.6% of value: $2,054 a year, $171 a month. Payment (PITIA): $2,222. DSCR: $2,232 ÷ $2,222 = 1.00x.
Rent that clears 1.05x: $2,222 × 1.05 = $2,333.
A rate one point lower, 6.25%, would put the typical house at 1.09x, over the line. That is how close Palm Bay is.
What it would take to reach 1.05x
- Find $101 more rent a month: a house that rents above the metro's typical $2,232, or a 2-4 unit property where the units add up to $2,333.
- Pay less: at today's typical rent, 80% LTV works on a purchase of about $327,495 or below (4% under the typical price), counting the lower taxes and insurance on a cheaper house.
- Borrow less: on the typical house the rent supports a loan of $259,747, about 76% LTV, so you would put $82,592 down instead of $68,468.
How Palm Bay compares
Palm Bay's rent-to-price ratio ranks 208th of 574 metros and 12th of 24 Florida metros in this data. Over the year to September 2026, rents rose 2.9% while prices fell 0.5%, so the rent-to-price ratio got better. That is in line with the median metro (+3.5%).
| Palm Bay, FL | Florida | All 574 metros | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical price | $342,339 | $338,409 | $287,147 |
| Single-family rent | $2,232 | $2,129 | $1,771 |
| Rent / price | 0.65% | 0.65% | 0.61% |
| Rent, 1-year change | +2.9% | +2.1% | +3.5% |
| Price, 1-year change | -0.5% | -0.8% | +2.2% |
| Property tax rate | 0.64% | 0.74% | 0.75% |
| DSCR at 80% LTV | 1.00x | 0.99x | 0.91x |
| Metros at 1.05x or better | No | 4 of 24 | 126 of 574 |
Homeowners here pay 0.64% of value in property tax, below the Florida average of 0.76%. Florida's homestead exemption and its 3% Save Our Homes cap do not apply to a rental. A rental's assessment is capped at 10% a year, but the cap resets to market value at sale, so a buyer usually pays more than this average. Zillow's all-homes rent index, which mixes in apartments, is $1,887 here; single-family houses rent 18% higher.
Nearby metros
| Metro | Miles | Price | SFR rent | Rent / price | DSCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando, FL | 41 | $383,302 | $2,434 | 0.64% | 0.96x |
| Sebastian, FL | 42 | $363,706 | $2,293 | 0.63% | 0.97x |
| Lakeland, FL | 65 | $295,502 | $2,071 | 0.70% | 1.06x |
| Deltona, FL | 68 | $330,886 | $2,135 | 0.65% | 0.98x |
| Port St. Lucie, FL | 76 | $381,493 | $2,627 | 0.69% | 1.03x |
The nearest metro with a better DSCR is Lakeland, FL, 65 miles away (1.06x on a typical price of $295,502).
These are metro-wide typicals, not any one property. The lender's appraisal sets the value and market rent for the house you buy, and the lender uses the lower of the lease and that market rent (90% of it on a vacant unit). The rate is a placeholder for the math, not a quote. How the numbers are built.
Sources
- Home values: Zillow Research, Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, middle tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, metro level, September 2026 (CSV).
- Rents: Zillow Research, Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), single-family residences, smoothed, metro level, September 2026 (CSV). The all-homes index that includes apartments is used only for the comparison line (CSV).
- Property tax: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates. The rate is aggregate real estate taxes paid (table B25090, file) divided by aggregate home value (table B25082, file) for owner-occupied homes in the metro area or state.
- Distances between metros: U.S. Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer file for metro areas (ZIP).
Home value and rent data: Zillow, Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index. Zillow does not review or endorse this page. Tax and geography data: U.S. Census Bureau. Loan math by Doors Funded. Refreshed when Zillow publishes a new month.
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