Bexar County

Bexar County, home to San Antonio, sits at a gross rent-to-price ratio of 0.0666, which translates to a 4.33% cap rate on a median-priced acquisition. That cap rate places it squarely in appreciation territory on paper, yet the appreciation story is weak right now: home prices are down 2.26% year-over-year, not up. The cash-flow math at current rates is equally blunt. At a 6.85% note rate on a $250,969 purchase with 20% down, the monthly mortgage runs $1,316 against median rent of $1,393, leaving roughly $77 of gross spread before expenses. Once you layer in the $487 in estimated monthly operating expenses, the model produces negative $410 in monthly cash flow and a cash-on-cash return of -8.52%. This is not a market where the numbers pencil on a leveraged buy at median price today. The affordability index of 76 tells you homes are more accessible here than in many Sun Belt metros, but accessibility and investability are different questions.

The investor this market suits at the moment is a patient, lower-leverage buyer or a value-add operator who can manufacture equity rather than depend on the market to deliver it. The cash-flow score of 67 out of 100 is the highest composite score in the dataset, which suggests Bexar competes reasonably well on rent-to-price relative to peers, but the negative cash-on-cash at standard leverage means you need either a larger down payment to reduce debt service, a below-median acquisition price, or a unit that rents above the county median. The appreciation score of 39 and a declining price trend mean you should not underwrite speculative price recovery as a crutch. The investor who wins here finds an asset priced 10-15% below median, forces value through renovation or improved management, and holds with enough equity cushion to absorb the carry.

The tax and insurance load deserves its own line on your underwrite. The combined monthly tax and insurance estimate runs $481 on a median-priced property, which is more than a third of the gross rent. Texas imposes no state income tax, but it funds government through property taxes, and at a 1.80% state-average effective rate, the levy is high enough to materially compress net operating income. That rate is a state-average estimate from Tax Foundation 2024 data, and county or township assessments in Bexar may differ, so pull the actual assessed value and tax bill on any specific address before finalizing your model. The insurance component at 0.50% of value adds another $105 per month, reflecting Texas wind and hail exposure. Together, these two line items consume $5,772 annually before you spend a dollar on maintenance, management, or vacancy.

On the risk side, Bexar's size, at over two million residents, provides meaningful demand diversification that smaller Texas counties cannot offer. Population at that scale reduces the concentration risk you carry in a single-employer or single-industry town. That said, the stability score of 50 is middle-of-the-road and warrants attention: a market can be large and still experience demand softness if supply is running ahead of household formation, which the declining year-over-year price figure suggests may be the case. The county ranks 451st out of 1,000 nationally, at the 42nd percentile, and 85th out of 243 Texas counties, both respectable but not exceptional positions.

Compared to its neighbors in the dataset, Bexar is the largest and most liquid market by a wide margin, but it is not the cheapest entry point. Victoria County at $211,088 median and a 0.0639 rent-to-price ratio carries a slightly lower rent multiple but posts a comparable overall score of 58 versus Bexar's 57. Hutchinson County at $114,329 and Duval County at $75,098 offer dramatically lower price points, and both score 58 and 55 respectively, but liquidity, tenant depth, and exit market quality in those smaller counties are fundamentally different propositions. Robertson and Hamilton counties price near Bexar without the population base to support it.

Choose Bexar over its neighbors when your strategy depends on tenant demand depth, resale liquidity, and the ability to move multiple doors in a single market without exhausting the buyer pool. Choose a smaller neighbor if you are a cash-flow-first operator comfortable with illiquidity and willing to accept thinner markets in exchange for lower basis. At current leverage costs and with prices still drifting lower, Bexar rewards discipline on acquisition price above all else.