Cleveland is often looked at as a has-been market. However, its turnaround has created a number of opportunities for investors and residents alike. Cleveland is home to just under 400,000 people. The larger metropolitan area is home to roughly two million people. That makes the Cleveland real estate market the 32nd largest in the country. If you include the Cleveland-Akron-Canton metro area, there are three and a half million people in the “combined statistical area”, making it the 15th largest metropolitan area in the United States. This century old city was once a major manufacturing center. It is reinventing itself as a medical and biomed hub.
A recently published forecast for the Cleveland, Ohio housing market in 2018 suggests that home-price appreciation could begin to slow down, following a year of double-digit gains. In a separate report, Cleveland was singled out as one of the cities where it’s actually cheaper to buy a home than to rent.
Home prices in Cleveland rose steadily and significantly during 2017, and they are expected to continue trending north for the foreseeable future. This is according to a recent forecast for the Cleveland real estate market that stretches into 2019.
According to Zillow.com, the median home value in Cleveland is $53,400. Cleveland home values have gone up 21.1% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will rise 3.4% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Cleveland is $69, which is lower than the Cleveland Metro average of $106. The median price of homes currently listed in Cleveland is $84,900 while the median price of homes that sold is $58,900. The median rent price in Cleveland is $850, which is lower than the Cleveland Metro median of $1,100.
The percent of delinquent mortgages in Cleveland is 3.7%, which is higher than the national value of 1.6%. With U.S. home values having fallen by more than 20% nationally from their peak in 2007 until their trough in late 2011, many homeowners are now underwater on their mortgages, meaning they owe more than their home is worth. The percent of Cleveland homeowners underwater on their mortgage is 31.1%, which is higher than Cleveland Metro at 13.4%. Currently Zillow has 3868 homes for sale and 204 homes for rent in Cleveland, OH.
According to Trulia.com, Cleveland real estate market trends indicate an increase of $4,846 (6%) in median home sales over the past year. The average price per square foot for this same period fell to $74, down from $75. Trulia has 990 resale and new homes for sale in Cleveland, including open houses, and homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process.
Trends in Cleveland show a 6% year-over-year rise in median sales price and a -1% drop in median rent per month. The median sales price for homes in Cleveland for Mar 28 to Jun 27 was $89,846 based on 462 home sales. The median rent per month for apartments in Cleveland for Jun 3 to Jul 3 was $870. A normal real estate market is said to have a 5 to 6-month supply of homes for sale. Some of the hottest housing markets were down two a 1-month or 2-month supply. The national average was 2.6 months as of December 2017. Cleveland had nearly a 4-month supply during the same time frame. That’s still a bit lower than what is considered to be a balanced market, but it’s better than many cities in the U.S.
Should you buy investment property in Cleveland? Looking for a home in Cleveland? These up-to-date Cleveland real estate statistics and trends will help you make smart investing decisions. Here are 10 reasons to invest in the Cleveland real estate market.
While there are Americans who worship Canada’s single payer healthcare system, the reality is that millions of Canadians come to the United States each year. Some were denied care by their government, while many simply don’t want to wait months for a procedure, so they choose to pay cash at U.S. hospitals. Cleveland is building medical facilities to cater to these medical tourists. And these doctors, nurses and medical specialists are buying homes close to work, whether it is at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic or the hospital down the street.
Another variation of this strategy is buying property in the Cleveland housing market that caters to medical school students. Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine see many students from around the world who come to the area for one to five years to attend before leaving to practice elsewhere. (The Lerner College is a five year tuition free medical school).
Cleveland has invested in healthcare and bio-science business accelerators like Bio-Enterprise and the Global Center for Health Innovation. They expect institutions like this to lead to new healthcare advancements provided first in Cleveland and in the hope that discovered drugs and technology will be manufactured in Cleveland. Investors can find affordable investment properties for development and either sale or rental to people working at these facilities. In fact, Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor is a prime place for high tech companies, while the Cleveland real estate market is booming around these businesses.
Cleveland is intentionally redeveloping a number of brownfield industrial sites to create multi-use properties. For example, the Terminal Tower is being turned into a combination shopping and entertainment district. The Cleveland Gateway project is going to turn 65 acres into a densely populated urban neighborhood, mixing multi-family housing with trails, a marina and an urban park. If you can’t invest directly in this redevelopment project, note that single family and multifamily housing stock around the new units will go up in value as new infrastructure is built.
Significant redevelopment is occurring along the thoroughfare running from East 55th Street to East 105th Street. Given that it is right off Interstate 490 and connects with downtown streets like Quincy and Chester Avenue, this is an excellent place to buy property that is going to go up in value. When you know that better streets and traffic management along with improved public transit will go into an area, it is a safe bet for investing in the Cleveland real estate market.
Nucleus is another downtown redevelopment project that seeks to bring mixed use real estate to depressed areas. Nucleus is centered around two million square feet of retail, residential and office space, though there will be around 500 residential units. If you want to invest in the Cleveland real estate market, consider buying and rehabbing housing for those who will work in NuCleus but couldn’t get one of the apartments or condos.
University Circle is one of the hottest neighborhoods in Cleveland. It is seeing a wave of high end condos and apartments. If you can find single family rentals or multi-family housing in the vicinity, snap it up. These are among the most desirable properties in the Cleveland housing market. We know that when they were willing to turn a former Children’s Museum into an apartment building.
The Western Rim of Cleveland hasn’t been overlooked in the rush to redevelop downtown and the Biotech corridor. Projects worth an estimated 350 million dollars have been proposed or are actually under construction between West 25th and West 117th streets. A business incubator has been proposed for the Western Rim. The Cleveland housing market on the west side should see significant growth as new businesses pop up here. The luxury rentals built in the near West Side is probably only the start of this area’s resurgence.
Cleveland sits on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Cleveland is redeveloping its long waterfront district. The fifty year plan has already resulted in mixed-use development between West 3rd and East 18th streets. Redevelopment includes rehabilitating waterfront infrastructure like bridges, canals and “made land”. Reinvented lakeside trails create desirable areas that will command a premium on the Cleveland real estate market. Euclid has already demonstrated this with their lakefront project and main waterfront park. Newly opened areas like the one created by the demolition of the FirstEnergy coal fire plant are to be seen as opportunities to reinvent the Cleveland real estate market.
The Cleveland housing market is so hot that they’re turning old commercial buildings into new residential space. A classic example of this is the former Huntington Bank Building; it is currently known as the 925 Building. The commercial building will be transformed into a mixed use building with office space, retail space, a Hilton hotel and 600 apartments.
Cleveland’s population is stable at around 400,000 residents. It is doing a decent job of retaining its young people. Why is that something to bring up when discussing the Cleveland housing market? Because it is right next to Detroit, a city that has been shedding people for decades. The Cleveland real estate market is thus bolstered by steady to slow growth, though specific neighborhoods are seeing spikes in their valuations as new employers and attractions move in.
Cleveland is a notable exception to the decline of the Rust Belt cities. It has managed to reinvent itself, shifting from classic manufacturing to biotech and medicine. In the process, it has maintained its population and has strong potential for growth both economically and demographically.
If you are a beginner in rental property investing, it very important to read good real estate investing books. You must also learn from successful real estate investors who have retired early on in their lives by investing in some of the best real estate markets like Cleveland, Ohio. Another market to go for diversifying your investments is the Dallas housing market. Dallas, TX because it has a strong economy and a constant population growth and will make your pockets bigger. As rents goes up smart investors should invest in Dallas.
Similarly, Houston is another great market for investing in real estate for your retirement. Houston is becoming a hotbed of buyer activity that could be really beneficial for real estate investors; just ask the multitude of overseas investors who are choosing Houston as the city of choice to invest in for the foreseeable future.