Median Sale Price
$300,000
low-volume — YoY suppressed
Active Inventory
28
Days on Market
97 days
Price Drops
25.0%

Single-Family vs. Condo

Source: Redfin (property-type breakdown)
Single-Family Median
$300,000
Condo / Co-op Median
$407,000
SFR vs. Condo YoY Gap
-54.8%
condos outperforming SFR

Buyer vs. Seller Market Indicators

Latest month — Redfin
Months of Supply
4.0 mo
Balanced

Inventory ÷ monthly sales. Below 3 = strong seller market; 3-6 balanced; above 6 = buyer market.

Sale-to-List Ratio
96.9%
Below asking

Median closing price ÷ original list price. Above 100% = homes routinely closing above asking.

% Sold Above List
14%
Buyer-favorable

Share of closed sales priced above asking. The single cleanest read on bidder competition.

What does your sqft target cost in Canton, North Carolina?

$214/sqft median (Redfin)
+$0 adj
+$0 adj
optional
Estimated price
$428,798
Above median range (+43% vs median)
Region median
$300,000
all homes
Price-tier reverse lookup — what sqft does each price band buy?
$600,000
≈ 2,799 sqft
$1,200,000
≈ 5,597 sqft
$2,000,000
≈ 9,328 sqft
$5,000,000
≈ 23,321 sqft

Estimate = (median $/sqft × your sqft) + bed/bath/lot adjustments. Bed and bath adjustments use Appraisal Institute / Fannie Mae standard rules of thumb (~$15K/extra bedroom, ~$20K/extra bathroom vs. a 3bd/2ba baseline; half-bath = half adj). Lot premium is a $1.50/sqft heuristic beyond a 6,000 sqft baseline — accuracy varies sharply by urban infill vs. acreage market. Quality, condition, year built, and HOA are not modeled here. For a deeper county-level hedonic AVM, see AVM Lite.

Rent + invest vs. buy + own — backtested

15-yr rolling history · S&P 500
Property type:
Upfront capital committed (both paths): $69K = 20% down + 3% closing on a $300K home
BUY + OWN
Median ending wealth $263K $161K real
Net gain on $69K upfront: $194K
Range: $263K → $263K
Wealth = home value (appreciated at 3%/yr) − remaining mortgage − 6% selling cost. Gain = wealth − upfront. Leveraged appreciation on full $300K asset comes from the 20% down.
RENT + INVEST
Median ending portfolio $372K $281K real
Net gain on $95K contributed: $277K
Range: $161K → $1.11M
Same upfront cash + each year's (own − rent) surplus invested in S&P 500 at actual annual returns. Median renter contributed $95K total.
Median wealth delta: $109K in favor of RENT + INVEST
What if you'd started in a recent year? (most-recent 15yr window: 2011–2025)
WindowBuy wealthBuy gainRent wealthRent gainWealth delta
2011–2025$263K$194K$579K$484K$316K rent
2010–2024$263K$194K$594K$499K$330K rent
2009–2023$263K$194K$589K$494K$325K rent
2008–2022$263K$194K$336K$241K$72K rent
2007–2021$263K$194K$428K$333K$165K rent
2006–2020$263K$194K$372K$277K$109K rent
2005–2019$263K$194K$328K$233K$65K rent
2004–2018$263K$194K$272K$177K$9K rent

Educational tool, not investment or real-estate advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Backtests use actual annual total returns including dividends from S&P 500 (Damodaran (NYU Stern) annual total return (with dividends), 1957-present.).

Buyer model: 30-yr fixed mortgage, P&I + property tax + insurance + maintenance (1% of value/yr) + HOA. Selling cost = 6%. Investor model: down payment + annual cashflow surplus invested in the chosen index at that calendar year's actual return.

Tax model: pre-tax comparison. Toggle "after-tax mode" to apply MID, SALT, LTCG, and the Sec 121 capital-gains exclusion.

This calculator does not adjust for: PMI (assumed 20%+ down), differential transaction costs by state, lifestyle factors (commute, schools, kids), illiquidity / forced-sale risk, or insurance availability constraints (e.g., FL/CA wildfire). Consult a fiduciary advisor and tax professional before acting on any of this.

Cost-of-living escalation — North Carolina (7 categories)

7-yr trajectories · state-grain (no city-grain data published)
Electricity (residential) latest 2025 · ¢/kWh
13.21¢
+2.7% YoY +29.3% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~$119/mo at 900 kWh
🔥
Natural gas (residential) latest 2025 · $/mo
$97
+2.9% YoY +35.0% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
monthly bill at typical 60 therms
🛒
Groceries (food at home) latest 2025 · $/mo
$590
+2.5% YoY +33.6% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
BLS CPI food-at-home, RPP-adjusted
🏠
Homeowners insurance latest 2025 · $/yr
$2,230
+7.5% YoY +72.1% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
NAIC HO-3 statewide avg
🏥
Health insurance (family contribution) latest 2025 · $/yr
$6,375
+5.2% YoY +30.7% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
KFF family worker share
🚗
Auto insurance latest 2025 · $/yr
$1,729
+6.7% YoY +64.1% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
state avg full-coverage
👶
Childcare (infant, center) latest 2025 · $/yr
$10,857
+5.0% YoY +27.1% since 2019
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Child Care Aware annual report

Trajectories anchor each state's most recent published value to the corresponding national YoY pattern (electricity → EIA, natural gas → EIA, groceries → BLS CPI food-at-home, homeowners insurance → NAIC, healthcare → KFF Employer Health Benefits, auto insurance → BLS CPI motor vehicle insurance, childcare → Child Care Aware "Price of Care"). City-grain data is not published for any of these categories — Canton inherits North Carolina's state-level series. Per-household costs vary by provider, plan, household size, and usage.

Who lives here

Census ACS 5-year (place-level)
Population
4,417
Median Household Income
$64,034
4.7× home price
Owner-Occupied
69.9%
Vacancy Rate
11.7%

43.3% of housing was built before 1950 — older stock often means smaller bedrooms, deferred maintenance, and 1-bath layouts.

Market Pressure Signals

Derived from Redfin trend
Inventory vs. Long-Term Avg
-4.4%
roughly balanced
DOM vs. 24-Mo Avg
+24.6%
currently 97 days
Long-Term Avg Inventory
29
Long-Term Avg DOM
78 days

Value / Rent

state ZORI mean (city rent unavailable from public sources)
Value / Rent
16.9×
typical

City rent data isn't published in Zillow's public CSVs. We use the state-level ZORI mean as the rent reference. The state-level rent is a useful approximation for big metros within a state but can mislead in extreme outlier cities.

Trends

Up to 5 years of monthly data

Median Sale Price

Trailing 12 months

Active Inventory

Trailing 12 months

Days on Market

Trailing 12 months

State-level data: North Carolina statewide stats →

Verify any number on this page: data sources, formulas, and cross-references →