Report: Five Ohio cities among most affordable for home buyers

As housing prices continue to rise across Ohio, a new study puts two cities in the top five nationally as the most affordable cities for home buyers.

Toledo ranked third and Akron fifth in a study from the personal finance website WalletHub that compared 300 cities nationwide in 10 key metrics, including costs of homes and maintenance, tax rates and vacancy rates.

Columbus ranked 17th in the study, while Cleveland was 22nd and Dayton 25th, putting five of Ohio’s largest cities among the most affordable. Cincinnati ranked 90th, the worst among state markets included in the report.

“[Toledo] has a low cost of living and one of the lowest costs per square foot for homes, at just $86. Plus, the city has a high rent-to-price ratio. On average, a year's rent makes up almost 11% of the property's value,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said. “Akron is the fifth most affordable city for home buyers. It ranks among the top 10 for housing affordability, as the median house price is three times the median annual household income. The rent-to-price ratio is also high, at over 11%, and the median listing home price per square footage is $95 – one of the lowest of the cities included in the report."

Steven Brown, a broker and faculty member at Dallas College at Cedar Grove, believes the real estate market could cool.

“Generally speaking, as long as our federal deficit continues to grow, and inflation and interest rates remain elevated, the real estate market in the United States, taken as a whole, will continue to cool, at least for the short term,” Brown said.

Montgomery, Alabama ranked as the most affordable city for homebuyers, followed by Flint, Michigan, Toledo, Detroit and Akron.

According to Redfin, home prices in Ohio were up 3.7% in April compared to a year ago. Also, the number of homes sold fell 21.7% and the number of homes for sale was down 20.4%.

Redfin ranked the Warren metro area with the state’s fastest-growing sales price, followed by Springfield, Avon Lake, Sandusky and Mansfield.