Ohio rental market data

Median rent growth was 5.3% across 18 measured metros, compared with 4.4% home-value growth across 29. The packet reports a 0.9 percentage-point gap. Local separation was wider in Ashland, where rent rose 17.1% and value rose 6.1%, and in Sandusky, where the corresponding rates were 9.7% and 2.1%.

The spread does not translate automatically into stronger cash flow. Ashland's measured gross yield was 4.5%, while Sandusky's was 8.4%. Rent-growth coverage also excludes 11 of the 29 price markets, so the two statewide distributions are not equally complete. Screening should combine momentum with current entry price and rent rather than treating faster rent growth alone as the opportunity.

Employment growth across 29 metros had a -0.3% median, with a measured range from -1.6% at the 10th percentile to 0.8% at the 90th. County movement also leaned outward: 269,688 people moved in and 277,516 moved out, producing net migration of -7,828, or -0.7 per 1,000 residents, across all 88 counties.

The counter-signal is local rather than broad. Employment rose 2.1% in Sandusky, 1.4% in Wilmington and 1.0% in Athens. Aggregate mover income also had a positive $82,542 gap even as mover counts were negative. These readings support market-by-market demand checks, but their different reporting periods cannot establish current household formation or explain the measured rent increases.

The measured metro median was 2.5 months of supply, 40.5 days on market, a 97.9% sale-to-list ratio and price drops on 27.3% of listings. Cambridge shows the weaker end of exit conditions: 75 days on market, 3.6 months of supply and a 95.3% sale-to-list ratio.

Permitting and resale speed do not move together mechanically. Columbus recorded 12,394 permitted units, or 5.7 per 1,000 residents, with 40 days on market; Cincinnati recorded 10,518, or 4.6 per 1,000, with 37 days. Sidney also had elevated permit intensity at 4.4 per 1,000, but its median marketing time was 57 days. Permit counts do not show completion timing, tenure or the amount that will compete directly with a particular rental.

Across 29 metros, the median measured home value was $220,212, monthly rent was $1,100 and gross yield was 6.1%. Gross yields ran from 4.7% at the 10th percentile to 7.7% at the 90th. Median rent-to-income was 20.2%, with a 24.1% 90th-percentile reading.

Sandusky paired an 8.4% gross yield with rent equal to 27.6% of median income; Marion paired an 8.1% yield with 25.3%. Both rent-to-income readings exceed the measured 90th percentile. That makes tenant affordability a material screen in the higher-yield examples. Gross yield remains a headline ratio and does not deduct vacancy, taxes, insurance, maintenance, management or capital work.

County vacancy had an 8.4% median and a 15.6% 90th-percentile reading across all 88 counties. The highest cited examples also had comparatively small renter shares: Ottawa County had 36.0% vacancy and a 16.4% renter share, Morgan County had 22.0% and 21.1%, and Monroe County had 20.8% and 20.1%. These broad ACS vacancy rates do not identify units that are rent-ready or available to long-term tenants.

Tenant headroom is another constraint. The median share of renters paying at least 30% of income toward rent was 43.0%; the cited readings were 57.7% in Adams County, 57.7% in Athens County and 56.1% in Scioto County. The county median year built was 1972.5, but the packet contains no inspection or renovation data. High vacancy, heavy rent burden and older stock therefore require separate checks rather than a single oversupply conclusion.

Effective county property-tax rates ranged from 0.9% at the 10th percentile to 1.4% at the 90th, with a 1.1% median. The cited higher-tax counties were Cuyahoga at 2.0% and $3,910 median tax, Montgomery at 1.7% and $3,127, and Lucas at 1.7% and $2,773. These differences should be applied directly to property-level operating assumptions rather than inferred from a statewide median.

The median FEMA loss ratio was 0.107%, rising to 0.165% at the 90th percentile; cited readings were 0.227% in Lawrence County, 0.203% in Morgan County and 0.195% in Meigs County. Inland flood was the mutually exclusive leading-hazard label in all 88 counties. That classification identifies each county's leading hazard only; it does not establish exposure for every parcel or provide an insurance quote.