Transparent by design.

Publication cadence

PERCH Index publishes quarterly on the 8th of the release month: January 8 (Q4 prior year data), April 8 (Q1), July 8 (Q2), October 8 (Q3). This is a retrospective snapshot, not a real-time dashboard. Live data lives in PERCH Yield.

Metric · Rental Yield by StateLive

What it measures

Gross annual rental yield per US state, computed as annualized 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent divided by the median home value.

How it's calculated

Gross_yield_% = (statewide_2BR_FMR × 12) / ZHVI_state_median × 100. The rent numerator is the arithmetic mean of the 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent across all HUD-published metros in the state; Small Area FMR values inform the metro-level rents where HUD publishes them. The home-value denominator is Zillow's ZHVI State-level series (SFR + Condo, tier 33–67, smoothed, seasonally adjusted).

Data sources

• US Department of Housing and Urban Development — Fair Market Rents API, FY2025 release (October 2025). Small Area FMR per-ZIP covers 9,176 ZIPs across ~50 large metros; metropolitan-area FMR covers the remainder.
• Zillow Research — Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), State-level public CSV. Series: State_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month. Latest observation: 2026-05-31. Zillow refreshes ZHVI monthly.

Sample size floor

A state must have at least one HUD-published metro (for FMR) and a matched Zillow ZHVI observation (for home value) to appear in the yield ranking. States with only FMR data still appear in the 2BR FMR column with a "—" in the yield column, transparently.

Known limitations

• HUD FMR is the 40th percentile of standard-quality rents in a metro — a rent floor, not a market average. Well-maintained modular new-builds typically rent 15–35% above FMR.
• ZHVI is smoothed across all SFR + condo inventory in the state — new modular units may trade at different multiples than the broader housing stock.
• Gross yield is pre-expenses. Assume 30–40% goes to property tax, insurance, maintenance, vacancy, and management before net cash flow.
• Non-SAFMR metros use metro-wide FMR — within-metro variation is real and lost in the state average.
• HUD publishes FMR annually. Zillow publishes ZHVI monthly. Between HUD releases, only the denominator updates.

Update cadence

HUD releases new FMR data each October. Zillow refreshes ZHVI monthly. PERCH Index regenerates this metric within one week of each HUD release and re-pulls ZHVI on each site rebuild.

Metric · Build Cost by StateComing Q4 2026

Planned sources

• PERCH-certified builder network pricing inputs (Founding 50 cohort) — captured during the builder application wizard
• US Census Bureau — Manufacturing Value of Product Shipments (Manufactured Housing category)
• HUD Manufactured Housing statistics — shipment counts and price averages
• BLS Producer Price Index — residential construction material cost trends

Sample size floor

Minimum 10 builder inputs per state per quarter to publish. States below the floor will show as "insufficient data" with a link back to this page.

Metric · ADU Permit Timeline by CountyComing Q4 2026

Planned sources

• Public county ArcGIS REST feature services — permit databases that expose scheduled REST endpoints
• PERCH-network builder self-reported permit filing and approval dates
• Buyer intake data where permit dates were captured

Sample size floor

Minimum 20 permit records per county per quarter to publish. Median (not mean) is used to reduce single-outlier drag.

Metric · Modular Market Activity IndexComing Q4 2026

Planned sources

Four PERCH-platform activity streams (composite baseline Q2 2026 = 100):

• Builder applications
• Buyer waitlist growth
• Certified-builder capacity utilization
• Marketplace closings volume

Baseline period

Q2 2026 serves as the composite index baseline (= 100). Prior-quarter values published as they meet minimum event-count floors.

Cite as: PERCH Index — Fair Market Rent by State, FY2025 (methodology v1.1). ownperch.com/index/methodology

Licensing + attribution

Underlying HUD, US Census, HUD Manufactured Housing, and BLS data is US federal public domain. County ArcGIS data is subject to each jurisdiction's own terms; PERCH complies inline where republication requires attribution.

Disclaimer

PERCH Index is a market analysis publication. Individual property performance varies. This is not investment or financial advice. Consult licensed professionals before making decisions.

Corrections + contact

Found an error? Have a data source you think we should be using? Submit through the contact page and select "Index correction" as the topic. We publish corrections with the quarter they were discovered and credit the reporter.