Faro Labs / Markets / Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh real estate investment market
What a typical rental in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 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.
Difficult for both
At market rent, a typical Pittsburgh rental runs $311 short each month, and home values moved −1.1% over the last year. Neither leg is carrying deals right now, which means the ones that work here are bought well below market rather than at it.
The price a deal actually works at
Faro models five price points for Pittsburgh, from a weak buy to a strong one. The market-rate deal is $242,954; a good buy is $218,659 and a great one $194,363 roughly 20% below market value. Those are the bars a specific listing gets measured against when you run it.
How Pittsburgh compares
Of the 210 markets Faro publishes, Pittsburgh is the 169th most expensive to buy into: 39% below the median covered market, and the 28th strongest on rent-to-price. Within Pennsylvania it's the 1st priciest of 2 markets we cover. On the last year of home-value change it ranks 126th.
To break even at the default financing, a typical Pittsburgh property would need about $1,981 a month in rent: $384 more than the $1,597 the market currently supports.
What each tier costs in Pittsburgh
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 | $267,249 | $1,517/mo | +10% |
| Fair buy | $255,102 | $1,565/mo | +5% |
| Market rate | $242,954 | $1,597/mo | — |
| Good buy | $218,659 | $1,677/mo | -10% |
| Great buy | $194,363 | $1,757/mo | -20% |
A typical Pittsburgh deal, underwritten
The market-rate property above, run through the same engine every Faro report uses.
| Purchase price | $242,954 |
|---|---|
| Monthly rent | $1,597 |
| Cash required (20% down + 3% closing) | $55,879 |
| Net operating income | $11,393/yr |
| Monthly cash flow | -$311 |
| Cap rate | 4.7% |
| Cash-on-cash return | −6.7% |
| DSCR | 0.75 |
Rents are climbing faster than prices
Rents rose 4.9% over the last year while home values moved down 1.1%: a 6.0-point gap. When rent growth outruns price growth, yields improve without you doing anything: the same $242,954 property collects more each year against a price that hasn't moved to match. It's the rarer of the two directions and it's what turns a marginal market into a workable one over a hold.
One of the cheapest ways in
At $242,954, a typical Pittsburgh property costs 38.8% less than the median market Faro covers: 169th most expensive of 210. Cash required at 20% down plus closing is about $55,879, 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 Pittsburgh property would need about $1,981 a month to cover itself at the default financing: 24% above the $1,597 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.
Pittsburgh investor questions
Is Pittsburgh a good place to buy rental property?
A typical Pittsburgh rental at $242,954 renting for $1,597 a month returns 4.7% on a cap-rate basis and runs short by $311 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 Pittsburgh?
Not at the market's own price and rent. A typical property runs $311 short each month. It would need about $1,981 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 Pittsburgh?
About $55,879 at 20% down plus 3% closing on a typical $242,954 property: one of the lower entry points among the 210 markets covered here.
Are rents going up in Pittsburgh?
Rents moved up 4.9% over the last year, measured across 27 ZIP codes. The typical market-rate rental sits at $1,597 a month.
Other Pennsylvania markets
Run the numbers yourself
A market average is not a deal.
Paste a real Pittsburgh 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.