Faro Labs / Markets / Little Rock, AR
Little Rock real estate investment market
What a typical rental in Little Rock, Arkansas costs, rents for, and returns: underwritten by Faro's own engine, not a scraped summary.
Returns assume 20% down at 6.75% over 30 years, 7% vacancy, and standard operating costs: Faro's default assumptions, the same ones every report starts from. Home value and rent trends as of 2026-05-31.
Appreciation market
A typical Little Rock rental runs $461 short each month at market rent, so the case for buying rests on values rising: they moved 3.1% over the last year. That is a bet on the market rather than on the building, and it needs reserves deep enough to fund the shortfall.
The price a deal actually works at
Faro models five price points for Little Rock, from a weak buy to a strong one. The market-rate deal is $219,956; a good buy is $197,960 and a great one $175,965 roughly 20% below market value. Those are the bars a specific listing gets measured against when you run it.
How Little Rock compares
Of the 210 markets Faro publishes, Little Rock is the 183rd most expensive to buy into: 45% below the median covered market, and the 70th strongest on rent-to-price. It's the only Arkansas market we currently cover. On the last year of home-value change it ranks 22nd.
To break even at the default financing, a typical Little Rock property would need about $1,794 a month in rent: $570 more than the $1,224 the market currently supports.
What each tier costs in Little Rock
Faro models five price points per market. A listing gets measured against these bars, not against a national average.
| Tier | Purchase price | Market rent | vs. market rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weak buy | $241,952 | $1,163/mo | +10% |
| Fair buy | $230,954 | $1,200/mo | +5% |
| Market rate | $219,956 | $1,224/mo | — |
| Good buy | $197,960 | $1,285/mo | -10% |
| Great buy | $175,965 | $1,346/mo | -20% |
A typical Little Rock deal, underwritten
The market-rate property above, run through the same engine every Faro report uses.
| Purchase price | $219,956 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $1,224 |
| Cash required (20% down + 3% closing) | $50,590 |
| Net operating income | $8,158/yr |
| Monthly cash flow | -$461 |
| Cap rate | 3.7% |
| Cash-on-cash return | −10.9% |
| DSCR | 0.60 |
One of the cheapest ways in
At $219,956, a typical Little Rock property costs 44.6% less than the median market Faro covers: 183th most expensive of 210. Cash required at 20% down plus closing is about $50,590, which is what makes markets like this the usual starting point for a first rental. The trade is management: a cheap property is not a cheap property to run, and the fixed costs, a roof, a furnace, a turnover, are the same dollars against a much smaller rent.
What it would take to break even
A typical Little Rock property would need about $1,794 a month to cover itself at the default financing: 47% above the $1,224 the market currently supports. That gap is the honest size of the problem: it isn't closed by trimming an expense line, it's closed by buying meaningfully below market, putting more down, or finding a property that rents well above its market's median.
Little Rock investor questions
Is Little Rock a good place to buy rental property?
A typical Little Rock rental at $219,956 renting for $1,224 a month returns 3.7% on a cap-rate basis and runs short by $461 a month at 20% down. Individual deals vary far more than markets do, which is the whole reason to underwrite a specific address.
Can you cash-flow a rental in Little Rock?
Not at the market's own price and rent. A typical property runs $461 short each month. It would need about $1,794 in rent to break even. Deals that work here are bought below market rather than at it, which is what the price ladder above is for.
How much do you need to buy a rental in Little Rock?
About $50,590 at 20% down plus 3% closing on a typical $219,956 property: one of the lower entry points among the 210 markets covered here.
Are rents going up in Little Rock?
Rents moved up 4.0% over the last year, measured across 8 ZIP codes. The typical market-rate rental sits at $1,224 a month.
Run the numbers yourself
A market average is not a deal.
Paste a real Little Rock listing and Faro underwrites that specific property from its own comps, with a target price you can actually offer.
Estimates for analysis and educational use only: not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Verify every number independently before making a purchase decision.