Homes are selling for less than they did a decade ago in many places in Ohio as the tough economy, weak demand and high unemployment trouble the region. 
But home prices aren’t falling as much as they have been in Ohio and aren’t forecast to decline as much in 2012.
The federal home buyers’ tax credit was like a sugar high for Ohio, sending home prices up for a time before slamming them back to earth like a child licking a sucker running out of energy. The over-built out of sink housing market is coming back down to earth in most areas of the state, and it’s taking a licking on home prices.
Sluggish home sales are hurting Columbus with heavy foreclosure and bank assisted short sales. The state’s largest metro area should, however, see an increase in sales in the New Year as mortgage rates remain low with lower home prices, which will eventually strengthen the market. Columbus is forecast to see average home prices slide just 2.1% in 2012.
Hard hit Cleveland, however, should sustain higher deflation as more homeowners walk away from their homes suffering through the worst housing depression since the Great Depression. The foreclosure crisis has hit the region hard and it isn’t projected to ease for at least a few more years or until Congress gets its act together, and that isn’t likely any time soon.
| City | Forecast |
|---|---|
| Columbus | -2.1% |
| Cincinnati | -1.9% |
| Cleveland | -4.3% |
| Dayton | -3.8% |
| Toledo | -4.0% |
Vacant foreclosed homes left for vandals are hurting the community in Cleveland, which has taken a bad wrap nationally, but the city is using federal funds to sell-off some of the homes that have been foreclosed and bulldoze others. Investors who can qualify for a mortgage might give the area some consideration for some of the best discount priced home deals in the U.S., despite the fact
that the community is forecast to sustain average housing deflation of 4.3% in 2012.
With a better job market than many other areas, Cincinnati is making it through the housing crash more modestly than most other areas of Ohio. But there are still deals to be had in Cincy, especially from foreclosures that have hit the city hard. Home sales should improve over the coming year, however, and eventually pressure home values, which are forecast to decline a modest 1.9% by years end.
A slowdown in factory orders in the auto industry for suppliers in Toledo has worked to hurt the housing market, and hamper any sort of recovery in the hard hit region. Many major metropolitan areas fared much better than Toledo, which has been working through the tough economy with sluggish home sales.
As locals leave the area for jobs elsewhere, they are leaving homes vacant and pressuring home values for the rest of the market, which is forecast to cut home prices an average of 4.0% by years end.
Dayton is also projected to sustain another tough year, despite near record low mortgage rates with forecast housing deflation that will average 3.8%.