Killeen, Texas · Investor Desk · Updated June 2026
Duplexes & Multifamily for Sale in Killeen, TX
Killeen is the duplex capital of Central Texas — and it isn’t close. It has the most inventory, the lowest entry price per square foot, the fastest sales, and the strongest gross yields in the region, all powered by Fort Hood’s constant PCS-driven tenant demand. A 2-unit at the all-time $243K median renting at $1,400 per side pencils to roughly a 13.8% gross yield; at today’s $336K median it’s about 10.0%. Both are before expenses — and Bell County’s ~2.18% tax bill is the first thing that eats into it. Here’s the real math.
Source: Central Texas MLS, Killeen multifamily/duplex sales, ~8-year window through June 2026 (1,818 listings tracked, 1,677 closed). Gross yields are before expenses. Figures change — verify before writing an offer.
Are duplexes a good investment in Killeen, TX?
On the numbers, Killeen is the strongest small-multifamily cash-flow market in Central Texas. It carries the most inventory (141 active multifamily listings out of 1,818 tracked), the lowest entry price per square foot ($84/sqft all-time, $121 in 2026), the fastest sales (44-day median time on market at 99.7% of list), and the highest gross yields — roughly 13.8% at the all-time $243,000 median and 10.0% at today’s $336,000 median for a 2-unit renting at the $1,400 per-side median. Fort Hood’s constant PCS rotation is the demand engine underneath all of it. The honest caveat: those yields are gross. Net cap rate runs lower after Bell County’s ~2.18% property tax, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance.
- Most inventory in the region — 141 active, 1,677 closed over ~8 years. You’ll always have something to underwrite.
- Lowest cost basis — $84/sqft all-time, the cheapest doors in Central Texas, which is why the yields are highest.
- Strong gross yields — ~13.8% at $243K, ~10.0% at $336K (2-unit, $1,400/side). Gross, before expenses.
- Fast, competitive market — 44-day median DOM, 99.7% SP/LP. Well-priced duplexes move quickly; be ready.
- Fort Hood demand floor — PCS rotation keeps renters cycling; E-6 BAH (~$1,920) comfortably covers $1,400 rent.
- Underwrite net, not gross — ~2.18% tax, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance lower the real cap rate.
8-year price trend · median close
What has the Killeen duplex market done since 2018?
Median close prices on Killeen multifamily and duplex sales have climbed about 92% since 2018 — from $174,930 to $336,000. The fastest leg was the 2021-2022 run; since then the market has plateaued in the low-to-mid $330Ks, which is exactly the kind of flat shelf that lets cash flow, not appreciation bets, carry the return.
A flat price shelf scares appreciation chasers, but it’s good news for a cash-flow buyer. When prices stop running, sellers compete on price instead of getting bailed out by a rising market — and the rent-to-price ratio stays attractive instead of compressing. The 2021-2022 spike is when yields got thin; the 2023-2026 plateau is when they recovered. You don’t need Killeen to appreciate to make money here. You need it to cash-flow, and at $84-$121/sqft it does.
Central Texas MLS, Killeen multifamily/duplex median close by year, 2018-2026 (n ranges 11-247 per year; 2026 is partial-year through June). Figures change — verify before writing an offer.
Run your own numbers · 20 seconds
What gross yield would a Killeen duplex actually pencil to?
This is the first cut I run on every duplex before I bother touring it — gross yield and gross rent multiplier (GRM) off price, rent, and unit count. Adjust the inputs to your target deal. It’s pre-loaded with Killeen defaults: the all-time $243,000 median and the $1,400 per-side 3-bed median rent.
Killeen gross-yield calculator
Gross, before expenses. This is rent ÷ price — it ignores Bell County’s ~2.18% property tax, insurance, vacancy, property management, and maintenance/capex. After those, the net cap rate is materially lower, often by a third or more on older stock. Use gross yield to screen, then underwrite the full expense stack before you write an offer. Annual gross rent shown: $33,600.
Defaults: Killeen all-time median close $243,000; 3-bed median rent $1,400/mo (n=1,310). A screening tool, not an appraisal — verify rents and comps for the specific property.
The yield gap
Why do older Killeen duplexes cash-flow harder than new ones?
Same rent, lower price, higher yield — that’s the whole story, and it’s why the all-time median is the more interesting number than the 2026 median. At the $1,400 per-side rent, a 2-unit at the all-time $243,000 median posts about a 13.8% gross yield. The same duplex bought at the 2026 $336,000 median posts about 10.0%. Newer and higher-end stock has pulled the recent median up, but rents haven’t risen in lockstep — so the cheaper, older property simply returns more on every gross dollar.
The older-stock advantage
- Higher gross yield — ~13.8% at $243K vs ~10.0% at $336K on the same rent.
- Lower entry cost — less capital tied up per door, easier to scale a portfolio.
- Established pockets — Old 440 Village, Castle Heights, Loma Vista, Lonesome Dove have comps and tenant familiarity.
- Bigger margin of safety — a lower basis absorbs a flat or soft market better than a top-of-market new build.
The honest tradeoff
- Capex risk — median year built is 2002; roofs, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical come due over a normal hold.
- That yield is gross — deferred maintenance on older stock eats the net cap rate faster than the gross number suggests.
- Condition variance — two duplexes at the same price can be a clean rental or a rehab; underwrite the property, not the median.
- Financing/insurance — older roofs and systems can affect insurability and inspection-driven repair asks.
The 13.8% gross yield on a $243K duplex is real, but a 2002-built duplex will need a roof and at least one HVAC system inside a typical hold — call it $12,000-$20,000 you should be reserving against from day one. Investors who treat the gross yield as the return get surprised; investors who carve out a capex reserve up front still beat the newer stock on net, just by less than the headline gap. The older-stock play wins — as long as you price the roof before you price the deal.
The demand engine
Why is Killeen such a strong rental market?
One word: Fort Hood. As one of the largest U.S. Army posts, it cycles soldiers and families through Killeen and Harker Heights constantly via PCS (permanent change of station) orders. A 2-to-3-year assignment is the classic rent-don’t-buy window, which keeps a steady stream of renters refilling units that turn over. That’s a demand floor most Texas markets simply don’t have — it isn’t tied to one employer’s hiring cycle, it’s tied to a federal rotation that runs in every economy.
The affordability math reinforces it. BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) for an E-6 with dependents runs about $1,920 per month — comfortably above the $1,400 median 3-bed rent. That gap means your typical military tenant can cover the rent out of housing allowance alone, which supports on-time payment and lets you hold rents firm. It’s the same dynamic that keeps Killeen’s price-per-square-foot low while rents stay sticky: cheap doors, durable demand.
PCS rotation
Constant move-in/move-out cycle from Fort Hood keeps tenant demand refilling — a structural floor, not a local-employer bet.
BAH coverage
E-6-with-dependents BAH (~$1,920) sits above the $1,400 median 3-bed rent, so housing allowance alone covers the unit.
Rent-over-buy bias
Short assignments push many military households to rent, deepening the renter pool that fills duplexes.
Fort Hood is the strength and the concentration risk. A tenant base tied heavily to one post means a major drawdown or base-mission change is a real, if slow-moving, demand risk — not a reason to avoid Killeen, but a reason to underwrite conservatively, keep a healthy vacancy reserve, and not over-leverage. The demand floor is durable; it is not a guarantee. Buy as if a soft patch is possible, because over a long hold one usually is.
Market temperature · 2026 YTD
Is Killeen a buyer’s or a seller’s market for duplexes right now?
Right now it leans seller, and you should plan around that. 2026 year-to-date closings (61 sales) ran a 44-day median time on market at 99.7% of list price. Homes are moving fast and closing near ask — which means a well-priced duplex doesn’t sit waiting for you to finish thinking about it.
| Metric | All-time (1,677 sales) | 2026 YTD (61 sales) |
|---|---|---|
| Median close price | $243,000 | $336,000 |
| Median price / sqft | $84 | $121 |
| Median days on market | — | 44 days |
| Sold-to-list ratio | — | 99.7% |
| Median year built | 2002 | |
| Active listings now | 141 ($89K–$1.8M, median list $327K) | |
What that means in practice: this is not a market where you lowball and wait. Have your financing pre-arranged and an underwriting template ready before you start touring, so you can act on a good deal the day it lists. The same speed that pressures you as a buyer is the speed you’ll benefit from when you eventually sell — a 99.7% SP/LP market is a clean exit market too.
In a 44-day-DOM, 99.7%-of-list market, the deals don’t go to the investor with the most capital — they go to the one who can underwrite in an afternoon and write a clean offer the next morning. The single highest-leverage thing you can do before touring is build your numbers and line up financing. Decisiveness is the edge here, not patience. Hesitation is how good Killeen duplexes get bought by someone else.
Where the inventory is
What are the best neighborhoods for duplexes in Killeen?
The subdivisions with the most duplex and multifamily activity in our data — and therefore the deepest comps and the easiest re-rents — are Old 440 Village, Castle Heights, Loma Vista Estates, and Lonesome Dove. These pockets carry the inventory, which matters more than it sounds: more comps mean tighter underwriting, and an established rental pocket means the market and the tenant base already know it, so vacancy fills faster.
The right pocket depends on your hold plan. If your tenant thesis is Fort Hood PCS demand, weight proximity to the gates and the commute to post. If your thesis is lower maintenance and a cleaner hold, weight newer build quality even if the gross yield is a touch lower. Both are valid — they’re just different risk-and-effort profiles on the same Killeen demand floor.
What I won’t do is pretend every pocket is equal. Some streets re-rent in a week; some sit. That street-level read is the part the portals can’t give you, and it’s the first thing I’ll walk you through on a specific address.
Top duplex pockets
- Old 440 Village — deepest multifamily activity in the data.
- Castle Heights — established, comp-rich.
- Loma Vista Estates — steady duplex inventory.
- Lonesome Dove — recognizable rental pocket.
Paying for it
How do you finance a duplex in Killeen, TX?
There are three common paths into a Killeen duplex, and the right one depends on whether you’ll live in it, how many doors you already own, and your tax picture. The cheapest way into a first duplex is almost always the house-hack — live in one side, rent the other, and let the tenant’s rent offset your mortgage while you qualify on owner-occupant terms.
Conventional (1-4 unit)
The default buy-and-hold path. Standard investor down payment and underwriting on your personal income — straightforward for a clean W-2 buyer.
DSCR loan
Qualifies on the property’s rent, not your personal income. Built for investors scaling a portfolio past the point where DTI gets in the way.
House-hack (2-4 unit)
Live in one unit, low-down owner-occupant financing, the other unit’s rent offsets your payment. Usually the cheapest entry to your first duplex.
Match to goal
Occupying changes everything. So does door count and your tax plan. I’ll point you to the path — and the lender — that fits your actual situation.
Whichever path fits, get the pre-approval done before you tour. In a 44-day-DOM market, a financed offer you can move on quickly beats a stronger-on-paper offer that needs two weeks to get its financing in order. Speed is a feature of the financing, not just the buyer. See the deeper investor financing guide for the specifics on each path.
Taylor’s take
How I’d buy a Killeen duplex
“I underwrite a Killeen duplex the way I’d underwrite my own — gross yield to screen it, net cap rate to decide it, and the roof priced in before the offer goes out.”
I’m an active investor, not just an agent, and Killeen is the market in Central Texas where the cash-flow math actually works the cleanest. But the number that matters isn’t the 13.8% gross yield on the hero — it’s what’s left after Bell County’s ~2.18% tax, insurance, a real vacancy assumption, management, and a capex reserve for a 2002-built property. That net number is still good. It’s just not 13.8%, and any agent who quotes you the gross like it’s the return is doing you a disservice.
So here’s how I work a Killeen deal: screen on gross yield and GRM to decide what’s worth touring, underwrite the full expense stack to decide what’s worth offering, weight the pocket to your tenant thesis, line up the financing path that fits your goal, and then move fast — because in a 44-day, 99.7%-of-list market, the right duplex is gone if you sit on it. Start with the deal analyzer to run a property, or send me an address below and I’ll underwrite it with you.
Have a specific duplex in mind? Text or call me directly → 254-718-4249
Get a deal underwritten
Want a straight read on a Killeen duplex — gross yield and net cap rate?
Send me the address (or your buy box) and the basics. I’ll come back with live comps, the gross yield and an honest net cap rate with the real Bell County expense stack built in, the Fort Hood demand read on that pocket, and the financing path that fits your goal. No pressure, no auto-drip — a real answer from someone who buys these too.
Prefer to talk? 254-718-4249 · dealswithdasch@gmail.com
Questions investors actually ask
Killeen duplex investing — FAQ
Are duplexes a good investment in Killeen, TX?
On the numbers, Killeen is the strongest small-multifamily cash-flow market in Central Texas: the most inventory (141 active, 1,818 tracked), the lowest entry price per square foot ($84/sqft all-time), the fastest sales (44-day median DOM), and the highest gross yields — ~13.8% at the $243,000 all-time median, ~10.0% at today’s $336,000 median for a 2-unit at $1,400/side. Fort Hood’s PCS rotation supplies steady tenant demand. The caveat: those yields are gross. Net cap rate runs lower after Bell County’s ~2.18% tax, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance.
How much do duplexes cost in Killeen, TX?
Across 141 active multifamily and duplex listings, asking prices run from about $89,000 to $1.8M with a median list near $327,000. Closed sales tell the truer story: the all-time median close across 1,677 sales is $243,000 at $84/sqft, while 2026 year-to-date closings (61 sales) ran a $336,000 median at $121/sqft. Older stock near the all-time median is where the strongest cash flow lives.
What gross yield can I get on a Killeen duplex?
For a 2-unit, 3-bed-per-side duplex renting at the $1,400 per-side Killeen median, gross rent is about $33,600/year. Against the all-time $243,000 median that’s roughly a 13.8% gross yield; against the 2026 $336,000 median it’s about 10.0%. Both are gross — before Bell County’s ~2.18% tax, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance. Net cap rate after those is meaningfully lower, often by a third or more, so underwrite the real expense stack before you write an offer.
Why is Killeen a strong rental market?
Fort Hood. As one of the largest U.S. Army posts, it cycles soldiers and families through Killeen and Harker Heights constantly via PCS orders, keeping a steady stream of renters who often prefer renting for a 2-3 year assignment. The housing allowance helps: E-6-with-dependents BAH runs about $1,920/month, comfortably above the $1,400 median 3-bed rent. That demand floor is why Killeen prices per square foot stay low while rents hold.
Is the Killeen multifamily market a buyer’s or seller’s market right now?
Right now it leans toward sellers. 2026 year-to-date closings ran a 44-day median time on market at 99.7% of list price — homes are moving fast and near ask. For a buyer that means well-priced duplexes don’t sit; you have to underwrite quickly and be ready to write a clean offer, not lowball and wait. The flip side: the same speed is exactly what you’ll benefit from as an eventual seller.
What are the best neighborhoods for duplexes in Killeen?
The subdivisions with the most duplex and multifamily activity in our data are Old 440 Village, Castle Heights, Loma Vista Estates, and Lonesome Dove. These pockets carry the inventory and the comps, which makes them easier to underwrite and easier to re-rent. The right area depends on your strategy — proximity to Fort Hood gates for PCS tenants versus newer build quality for lower maintenance — so match the pocket to your hold plan.
How do I finance a duplex in Killeen, TX?
Three common paths. Conventional 1-4 unit investor loans are the default for buy-and-hold. DSCR loans qualify on the property’s rent rather than your personal income, which suits investors scaling a portfolio. And if you’ll live in one side, a 2-4 unit owner-occupant house-hack with a low-down loan lets the other unit’s rent offset your mortgage — often the cheapest way into your first Killeen duplex. The right path depends on whether you’ll occupy, your door count, and your tax picture.
Do older Killeen duplexes cash flow better than new ones?
On gross yield, generally yes. The all-time median close is $243,000, but 2026 closings ran $336,000 — newer and higher-end stock pulled the recent median up. At the same $1,400-per-side rent, the cheaper older property posts a higher gross yield (~13.8% vs 10.0%). The tradeoff is real: older Killeen duplexes (median year built 2002) carry more maintenance and capex risk — roofs, HVAC, plumbing — which eats into that yield advantage. Underwrite the capex, not just the purchase price.
What’s the catch with investing in Killeen duplexes?
Three honest cautions. The headline yields are gross — net cap rate after ~2.18% Bell County tax, insurance, vacancy, management, and maintenance runs materially lower. The tenant base is tied heavily to Fort Hood, so a base drawdown or mission change is a real, if slow-moving, demand risk to size for. And older stock means capex: a $243,000 duplex built in 2002 will need roof and system replacements over a normal hold. None of these kill the thesis — Killeen still cash-flows better than its neighbors — but they’re why you underwrite conservatively instead of trusting the gross number.
What does Taylor Dasch do differently for duplex investors in Killeen?
Taylor underwrites a Killeen duplex the way he’d underwrite his own — gross yield and net cap rate both, with the real Bell County expense stack built in, not a back-of-napkin gross number. He models Fort Hood tenant demand by pocket, runs the financing path that fits your goal (conventional, DSCR, or house-hack), and moves fast in a 44-day-DOM market so you don’t lose a good deal to a slower buyer. He’s an active investor with $27M+ closed across 100+ transactions and ranks #28 of 2,013 Bell County agents.
Taylor Dasch · EG Realty
$27M+ closed · 100+ transactions · #28 of 2,013 Bell County agents. An active Central Texas investor who underwrites Killeen duplexes the way he buys his own — gross yield to screen, net cap rate with the real Bell County expense stack to decide, Fort Hood demand read by pocket, and the financing path that fits your goal.
Ready to underwrite a Killeen duplex?
One conversation gets you live comps, the gross yield and an honest net cap rate, the Fort Hood demand read on the pocket, and a financing path that fits — from an agent who buys these too.
Taylor Dasch · EG Realty · Temple, TX · Serving Killeen & Bell County · Updated June 2026