ZIP 51544 · Lewis, IA · 843 residents · September 2026
Lewis 51544: neither side has the edge.
Fair conditions for both sides. Typical home value $162K, +2.1% over 12 months.
Market balanceSeptember 2026
In Mar 2026: +71
Higher than 83% of scored ZIPs
Five parts, weighted. How the score works →
The reading
Where the balance sits this month and what moved it.
Month by month, since the gauge began
- Mar 2026+71
- Apr 2026+47
- May 2026+45
- Jun 2026+43
- Jul 2026+38
- Aug 2026—no reading on record
- Sep 2026+7
Each block is one month’s reading, −100 (buyers) to +100 (sellers). The series starts in March 2026. A dashed block has no reading on record. How the balance is measured →
What is pulling the needle
- Sale-to-list —No sale-to-list figure for this ZIP
Blue pulls toward buyers, orange toward sellers. Realtor.com, September 2026; Redfin.
Accelerating: prices +2.1% over the trailing year, with the market leaning toward sellers.
Asking price vs sale price
Zillow's figure is a smoothed index of typical value, not a list price; Redfin's are closed sales for the month shown. A dash means Redfin has no closed-sale figure for the latest month.
Last 90 days
How the typical value and the listings moved over the last three months.
Prices
Typical home value since 2019, and how far it moved over each window.
Zillow ZHVI peaked at $169,301 in March 2026; the latest value is −4.5% from that peak, 5 months on. The sharpest 12-month move was −0.8%, ending August 2026.
Zillow's typical home value here, $162K in August 2026, is 44% below the median U.S. ZIP's $289K. Over the 12 months to August 2026, Zillow's typical home value moved +2.1% here and +2.8% in the median U.S. ZIP.
Price tiers and bedrooms
Starter homes here were flat in five years while top-tier homes rose 51% (Zillow ZHVI tiers) — the top of the market outpaced the bottom.
Zillow typical values by price tier, home type and bedrooms, August 2026.
How it ranks
Appreciation by window
| Window | Change | Per year | U.S. rank | Iowa rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | +2.1% | +2.1%/yr | Higher than 52% nationally | Higher than 37% in Iowa |
| 3 years | +11.9% | +3.8%/yr | Higher than 70% nationally | Higher than 71% in Iowa |
| 5 years | +21.6% | +4.0%/yr | Higher than 46% nationally | Higher than 30% in Iowa |
| Since 2019 | +49.4% | +5.5%/yr | — | — |
Zillow ZHVI · rank among scored ZIPs
Forecast
Where the typical value is likely to be over the next 3 to 12 months, with the range the model has earned, and up to 36 months with Pro.
Last three years, then the forecast band
HavenScore Forecast Model (v1) · run October 1, 2026A forecast is a range, not a promise; the confidence word says how wide it is. How the forecast works →
Of the 3-month ranges we published since December 2025, 54% contained the actual price.
Zillow's own published forecast has this ZIP's typical value rise 3.4% over the twelve months from August 2026 (Zillow Home Value Forecast).
Payment
What a typical home here costs each month, against the typical income.
Monthly payment
$1,31832% of the median household income here ($48,750)Between the 28% and 36% lines lenders use. Rate is the Freddie Mac average for September 2026; tax is the state's statutory rate.
Insurance is assumed at 0.5% of the home's value a year; Treasury's Federal Insurance Office did not publish a premium for this ZIP.
Buying costs $358 a month more than the HUD fair market rent for a 2-bedroom here (FY 2026), before tax effects and maintenance.
Like for like: the HUD fair market rent for a 3-bedroom here is $1,320 a month (FY 2026), against a typical 3-bedroom value of $200K (Zillow, August 2026) — a 7.9% gross rent yield.
Price-to-income ladder
Median home value ÷ median household income · Zillow ZHVI, Census ACS · under 4× has historically been comfortable
The place
What it costs to own here beyond the price, and what the neighborhood is like.
Typical homes cost 3.3× the median household income here, against 3.2× in the median IA ZIP and 4.3× in the median U.S. ZIP (Zillow, August 2026; Census ACS 2023). Median household income is $48,750 here, against $71,388 in the median U.S. ZIP (Census ACS 2023).
Hazard ledger
FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 release, refreshed annually · tract-level rolled up to ZIP · not a property-level rating · no future-year projection · the tick is the median of 8 scored ZIPs in Cass County.
Everyday prices
Everyday prices in the Omaha metro run 8% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024).
Rents in the index run 14% below the U.S. average.
$75,000 at U.S.-average prices buys what $68,950 buys here.
Metro-level index, U.S. = 100 · 2024 · the Omaha metro, not this ZIP alone.
Housing cost burden
Census ACS 2023 five-year estimates · the tick is the U.S. median ZIP.
Behind the score
The inputs behind each of the five parts, against the U.S. median ZIP.
Livability
51Seller's report
A two-page brief for selling here: the market balance, recent signals and an illustrative net-proceeds estimate.
Nearby
4 scored Iowa ZIPs within 12 miles; the ones below score within ten points and cost less.
Dots are Iowa ZIP centers colored by market balance; the ring is 12 miles.
Sources and freshness
Every figure on this page, where it came from and when.
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