York County

York County sits at a 3.16% cap rate on a $521,708 median purchase price, producing estimated monthly cash flow of negative $1,361 at a 6.85% mortgage rate with 20% down. The gross rent-to-price ratio is 0.00487, or about $4.87 per thousand of purchase price, which is well below the threshold most cash-flow investors require. The appreciation score of 65 is the strongest metric in the dataset, and year-over-year home price growth of 1.46% is modest in absolute terms but consistent with a coastal New England market where price levels are already elevated. York scores 48 overall, landing at the 22nd national percentile across 1,000 counties, which tells you plainly that this is not a market where the numbers work on day one.

This market fits an appreciation buyer who can carry negative cash flow, not a cash-flow buyer or a value-add operator looking for spread. The math is unambiguous: at current financing rates, a conventionally financed investor is out $1,361 per month before any capital expenditure reserve, and the cash-on-cash return is negative 13.61%. That only pencils if you believe the asset appreciates enough over your hold period to overcome the carry drag, or if you are buying with substantial cash to reduce the mortgage burden. The affordability index of 35 and a median income of $79,743 against a $521,708 median home price also suggest the renter pool is broad, since many households cannot afford to buy, which supports occupancy, but it does not fix the fundamental mismatch between rents and prices. A value-add operator would face the same entry-cost ceiling: you are starting from $521K, and any forced appreciation needs to clear a high bar to generate a return.

No economic anchor data was provided for York County, so employer-specific demand drivers cannot be assessed here. What the demographic and income data does indicate is a county of 212,691 people with a median household income near $80K, a profile consistent with a mix of year-round residents and a significant seasonal or second-home component typical of southern coastal Maine. That seasonal dynamic can create pockets of strong short-term rental demand, but the analysis here is scoped to long-term buy-and-hold, where that component is less directly relevant.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $691, which is a real number to have on your underwrite. The state-average effective property tax rate of 1.36% applied to a $521,708 purchase generates $7,095 annually in property taxes alone, plus $1,200 in estimated insurance. The 1.36% rate carries a "normal" flag in the data, meaning it is not an outlier in either direction, but at this price point the dollar amount is material. One important caveat: this is a state-average estimate from the Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual county or township rates in York County may differ, so pull the specific mill rate for any municipality before finalizing your underwrite. At $691 per month just in taxes and insurance, that line item alone consumes roughly 33% of the $2,114 median rent before you touch the mortgage.

The primary risk here is price-to-income compression. An affordability index of 35 means the market is already stretched for local buyers, which caps the buyer pool if you need to exit and limits rent growth to what incomes can absorb. There is also concentration risk implicit in a coastal Maine market where demand is partly driven by out-of-state buyers and seasonal activity; a pullback in that buyer segment would weigh on appreciation, which is the main thesis for holding here. No vacancy or regulatory data was provided, so those risks cannot be quantified.

Compared to its neighbors, York's median home price of $521,708 is second only to Cumberland County at $540,099. Cumberland actually posts a better rent-to-price ratio at 0.0518 versus York's 0.0487, and a higher median rent of $2,331, which means Cumberland offers modestly better income relative to price despite costing more to buy. Sagadahoc County, at $413,109 median and a 0.050 rent-to-price ratio, is the most interesting comparison: lower entry price with a comparable ratio, and an overall score of 49 versus York's 48. Waldo and Franklin counties are priced at $323K and $283K respectively, both scoring 49 overall, and likely offer better cash-flow characteristics simply through lower acquisition costs, though their rent data is not provided here. Choose York over its neighbors specifically if your thesis is coastal Maine appreciation and you are willing to carry the negative cash flow, or if you have a target asset near the Maine-New Hampshire border with short-term rental optionality that changes the income calculus. If cash flow or a lower basis matters more, Sagadahoc or the lower-priced northern counties deserve a harder look first.