Rents still high in Cincinnati but may be stabilizing
Rents are still high, but they're climbing at a slower pace in the Cincinnati metro area, bringing a modicum of relief to renters already dealing with decades-high inflation.
A recent report shows rents for apartments and single-family homes have begun to decelerate, putting Cincinnati-area renters in a better position than renters in much of the rest of the nation.
In July, the Cincinnati area's median asking rent, or the rent landlords charge new tenants, was $1,050, according to Dwellsy, an online rental platform that draws data from more than 12 million rental homes and apartments across the U.S.
Cincinnati's East End:Rising with million-dollar homes, coffee shops and new businesses
Cincinnati housing costs:Investors face congressional scrutiny
The July figure for all apartments and single-family homes listed for rent in the Cincinnati area represented an increase of 17.3%, or $155 per month, compared to the same month a year ago, according to the Dwellsy report.
But the July figure was down 2.3% from June in month-to-month comparison, Dwellsy found. Nationally, rents were up 2.7% over the same period.
"We are seeing softening in some key markets, Cincinnati being one of them,'' Dwellsy CEO Jonas Bordo told The Enquirer. "Cincinnati is a little bit healthier in terms of supply of housing.''
Bordo said a "massive cascade'' of people fleeing to Cincinnati and other more affordable areas from ultra-expensive East and West coast housing markets has begun to ease, mitigating demand and prices for rentals in the local area.
But Bordo said he didn't expect to see rental rates pull back significantly, especially for single-family homes.
Median rents for single-family homes increased at almost twice the rate as apartment rents in the Cincinnati area, climbing 16% over the past 12 months to $1,337 last month, according to Dwellsy.
By comparison, apartment rents went up 9% in the same period to $925.
A recent Enquirer investigation found an influx of investors flooding the market buying up houses and turning them into rentals is at least partly responsible for the surge in single-family rental rates.
Nearly 1 in 5 home sales in the Cincinnati market through the first half of the year was to an investor, rather than to a traditional buyer who intended to live in the house, The Enquirer found.
That was the most in at least two decades, according to Redfin, the real estate brokerage firm.
Experts say the demand for single-family rentals has been driven largely by the growing pool of renters who can't afford to buy a house at today's prices and mortgage rates.
Sales are down, but home prices are still climbing. The median price in Southwest Ohio, for example, rose 5% to $267,000 last month, according to the latest report from the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.
"Buyers had gotten so used to lower interest rates,'' said Donna Deaton, a veteran Realtor with ReMax Victory in West Chester. "Now that interest rates are higher, they can't afford the homes they were looking at back in the spring. Most of them are either forced to rent or keep looking.''
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati housing: Rents still high, but not rising as fast
