Moody County

Moody County sits at a median home price of $309,276 with year-over-year appreciation of 7.62%, which is the defining characteristic of this market. The appreciation score of 94 out of 100 puts it in rare company, ranking 113th nationally out of 1,000 counties evaluated and landing in the 86th percentile overall. The cash flow score, however, is 0, and the cap rate and cash-on-cash return figures are zeroed out in the data, which tells you plainly that this market does not pencil as a yield play at current prices. With a population of 6,346 and a median price pushing $310,000, the price-to-rent dynamics lean heavily toward the appreciation side of the spectrum. This is a market where the investor thesis is built around price compounding, not monthly income.

That makes Moody a very specific fit. If you are a cash-flow buyer running a 20% down scenario at 6.85% interest, the math here is not your friend, and the data confirms it with a cash-on-cash return of zero. The appreciation buyer is the natural owner of this story: 7.62% annualized price growth on a $309,276 asset represents roughly $23,567 in equity gain per year before any mortgage paydown, which is where the return is coming from. Value-add operators face the same carry problem, since forced appreciation through rehab only helps if the stabilized rents justify the exit or refinance, and the cash flow score suggests that gap is difficult to close here. This is a hold-for-appreciation market, and an investor should enter with eyes open to the fact that income coverage will likely require a meaningful down payment or cash purchase to avoid negative carry.

The tax and insurance burden is worth modeling carefully even if it does not rise to a red flag. At the state-average effective property tax rate of 1.28%, which is flagged as normal and carries the honest caveat that county and township rates may differ from that estimate, the annual tax bill comes to approximately $3,959. Combined with an estimated $1,113 in annual insurance at a 0.36% rate, the monthly tax-and-insurance carry is $423. On a 20% down conventional mortgage at 6.85%, that $423 sits on top of principal and interest before you reach a single dollar of operating expenses. In a low-rent environment that is a meaningful drag, and it belongs on its own line in your underwrite. South Dakota's lack of state income tax is a structural advantage for the investor holding entity, but it does not offset carry costs at the property level.

The concentrated risk in a county of 6,346 people is the single most important underwriting consideration here. Small population bases mean the rental demand pool is thin, tenant turnover events are harder to absorb, and any local economic disruption has an outsized effect on vacancy. The affordability index of 64 suggests the local buyer pool has limited purchasing power relative to the current price level, which means the appreciation story depends at least partly on demand coming from outside the immediate area or from a secular shift in rural South Dakota land and home values rather than from local income growth. The stability score of 50 reflects this dynamic, and investors should not underestimate how quickly sentiment can shift in a thinly traded rural market.

Compared to the neighboring counties in the data, Moody carries the highest median home price at $309,276, sitting above Deuel at $294,477, McCook at $274,393, Brule at $232,780, and Grant at $228,365, with Harding the cheapest at $211,924. The overall scores are tightly clustered, ranging from 71 to 73 for the neighbors versus Moody's 72. That means you are paying a meaningful price premium over every comparable county in this peer group without a differentiated overall score to justify it. The appreciation score of 94 is what separates Moody, and if recent price growth continues, the premium may be warranted for a buyer whose primary thesis is equity accumulation. But if you want cash flow or a lower entry price with similar market quality, Grant at $228,365 or Brule at $232,780 both score within one point overall and cost $75,000 to $80,000 less per door. Choose Moody over its neighbors only if you are explicitly buying the appreciation trajectory and are prepared to carry the asset through periods when rent income does not cover your full cost of capital.