Murray County

Murray County sits at a median home price of $255,364 with 11.75% year-over-year appreciation, which is the most immediately striking number in this data set. The appreciation score of 76 out of 100 reflects that momentum, and the affordability index of 75 confirms the county remains accessible relative to broader benchmarks. What's conspicuously absent from the investment estimate is any cap rate or cash-on-cash figure, and that zero across the board on cash flow metrics is itself informative: Murray is scoring in the bottom tier on cash flow (0 out of 100), meaning the rent-to-price relationship does not pencil for yield-focused buyers at current prices and financing rates. With a 6.85% interest rate applied to a $255,364 purchase and a $51,073 down payment, debt service alone is a meaningful hurdle before expenses. This market sits clearly toward the appreciation end of the spectrum rather than the cash-flow end.

The investor who belongs here is someone buying for price growth and willing to underwrite thin or breakeven cash flow in exchange for the 11.75% annual appreciation the county has been producing. That's not a cash-flow buyer's market. A value-add operator might find some angle if they can acquire below median and force equity through renovation, but the absence of meaningful yield data suggests there's no obvious spread to capture on the income side. The appreciation buyer, particularly one with a longer hold horizon and the balance sheet to carry a property that may not self-fund, is the profile Murray suits. The affordability score of 75 does suggest the price point hasn't run so far ahead that entry is irrational, and at $255,364 the median is still well below what comparable appreciation profiles command in denser metros.

On carry costs, the combined monthly tax and insurance load comes to $315, based on a 1.13% state-average effective property tax rate and a 0.35% insurance rate. That $315 is a meaningful line item on any underwrite because it's essentially fixed regardless of rent collected. Minnesota's 1.13% state-average rate sits in normal territory, neither a tailwind nor a red flag, but always worth verifying at the county and township level since actual assessments can diverge from the state average. The annual property tax estimate of $2,886 and annual insurance of $894 are reasonable starting assumptions, but any serious underwrite should pull the actual tax records for a specific parcel before committing.

Murray County is a rural Minnesota county with a population of 8,170, and that number carries its own set of risks that any investor should price in. Small population bases mean thin rental demand, limited tenant pools, and higher sensitivity to any economic disruption that reduces local employment or household formation. There is no economicAnchors data provided, so it would be speculation to name employers or industries driving demand here. What the population figure does tell you is that vacancy risk in a small market can spike quickly if even a handful of units come online or a local employer contracts. Concentration risk is real: a single-asset hold in an 8,170-person county is a meaningful bet on that county's demographic stability, and demographic trends in rural Minnesota have historically skewed toward outmigration rather than growth.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the data, Murray's $255,364 median is the lowest of the group, which is part of why it scores an overall 77th national percentile despite weak cash flow. Pine County is the closest price comp at $261,402 with a slightly higher overall score of 70 versus Murray's 68. Blue Earth County at $293,828 offers the only neighbor with rent data, showing a 6.09% rent-to-price ratio, which is a meaningfully better yield profile than what Murray appears to support. Wabasha and Houston counties both price higher, at $317,593 and $324,551 respectively, with comparable overall scores of 68 and 67. The case for Murray over its neighbors comes down to entry price and appreciation momentum: if an investor believes the 11.75% price growth reflects genuine demand rather than a thin-market anomaly, Murray offers the lowest acquisition cost in the peer group. But if income yield matters at all to the underwrite, Blue Earth County's published rent-to-price ratio of 6.09% makes it the more defensible choice among the neighbors shown.