Haines Borough

Haines Borough sits at a median home price of $324,103 with 3.94% year-over-year appreciation, an overall score of 66 out of 100, and a cash-flow score of exactly zero. That last number is the defining fact of this market. The appreciation score of 83 tells you where the return thesis lives, but without estimated cash flow or cap rate data available, any underwriting here demands you build your own pro forma from scratch rather than relying on published yield figures. The affordability index of 59 signals a market that is not cheap relative to local incomes, with a median household income of $68,276 supporting a home price that is roughly 4.7 times earnings. That ratio puts pressure on rent levels unless the tenant pool extends beyond full-time local workers, which in a seasonal and tourism-oriented Southeast Alaska community it often does, though unevenly.

This is not a market for a cash-flow buyer. The zero cash-flow score combined with a $324,103 purchase price and a 6.85% interest rate means a 20% down investor is carrying a substantial mortgage against rents that the data does not suggest will cover costs. If you are running a strict cash-on-cash discipline, Haines Borough is the wrong zip code. The appreciation buyer, specifically one with a five-to-ten year horizon and the liquidity to absorb negative or flat monthly cash flow, finds the 83 appreciation score more interesting. A 3.94% price gain over the past year in a 2,079-person borough suggests the small housing stock creates meaningful price sensitivity to even modest demand shifts. The value-add operator faces an illiquid exit environment in a market this small, making forced appreciation through renovation a riskier play than it would be in a market with deeper buyer pools.

No economic anchor or employer data was provided for Haines Borough, so this analysis does not speculate on specific drivers of rental demand or job stability. What the population figure of 2,079 does tell you is that this is one of the smallest jurisdictions in the dataset, ranking 3rd out of 14 Alaska markets and 233rd out of 1,000 nationally, landing at the 70th percentile nationally despite the cash-flow gap. That percentile reflects the appreciation score carrying significant weight. In a borough this small, a single large employer departure, a policy shift affecting seasonal tourism, or a bad year for the commercial fishing sector can move vacancy materially, and because no vacancy data is provided here, that risk cannot be quantified, only flagged.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance figure is $365, based on a state-average effective property tax rate of 1.18% and an insurance rate of 0.17%, yielding annual property tax of $3,824 and annual insurance of $551. The 1.18% rate is flagged as normal, which means it is neither a tailwind nor a penalty in your underwrite, but at $365 per month it is still a real line item on a property where positive cash flow is already absent. The standard caveat applies: this is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and the actual rate in Haines Borough specifically may differ from the statewide figure, so pull the current borough mill rate before closing.

The concentrated risk here is straightforward: 2,079 people, one borough, and no diversified economic base visible in the data. A market this thin can see rents and prices move sharply in either direction with very small changes in net migration or seasonal population patterns. Regulatory risk is not addressed by the available data, but remote Southeast Alaska municipalities sometimes impose restrictions on short-term rentals that can affect the investor calculus if a vacation rental strategy was part of the plan.

Against its neighbors, Haines Borough's $324,103 median sits between Wrangell at $288,171 and Valdez-Cordova at $312,829 on the cheaper end, and Petersburg at $358,280, Ketchikan Gateway at $381,504, and Sitka at $485,060 on the higher end. All five neighboring markets score 64 to 67 overall, essentially the same as Haines at 66, meaning the differentiation is not in total score but in price point and specific sub-scores. Ketchikan Gateway is the largest of these markets and likely offers more liquidity and a deeper tenant pool at a higher entry cost. Wrangell offers a lower price of entry at $288,171 with the same 66 overall score, which may suit the appreciation buyer seeking lower absolute capital exposure in a similarly small Southeast Alaska market. You choose Haines Borough over its neighbors primarily when your conviction is in its specific appreciation trajectory and you are comfortable concentrating capital in a thin market at a mid-range price point, not because the cash-flow picture is more favorable, because based on the available data, it is not.