OHIO — You are not likely to find this next statistic on any Ohio city, county, or state website trying to attract new residents.
A non-profit advocacy group said Ohio is one of the most unaffordable places to own homes.
News Center 7’s Nick Foley looked at the things that experts said must happen to change this trend.
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The Buckeye State saw the biggest decline in homeownership affordability between 2020 and 2025, according to a recent study by the National Housing Conference.
The study looked closely at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, HUD Fair Market Rent and housing site Zillow.
In other words, the non-profit determined that workers in Ohio saw the biggest drop in their ability to purchase a home with at least a 10% down payment and the salary to afford mortgage and insurance payments.
“It’s not just minimum wage workers. We’re seeing this for nurses and firefighters and policemen and accountants, and in some areas, doctors and lawyers,” David Dworkin CEO of National Housing Conference. “And so, the affordability crisis is really eclipsed income, and the cost of the homes themselves, whether you’re renting them or buying them, has absolutely eclipsed income.”
Dworkin said this unaffordability trend has grown across the country in 2019.
If you earned at least $100,000 a year, there are only 30 of the more than 300 metro areas where you couldn’t afford a home.
Today, that would be priced out of more than 170 of those markets.
Dworkin adds there is only one major solution prioritizing the construction of cheaper homes.
“We need to build more homes. And in building more homes, particularly more affordable homes that we haven’t been building for the last 20 years,” Dworkin said. “Then we’re going to actually make the difference we’re trying to make for those entry-level home buyers. And, if we build more apartment buildings that are affordable, then we’re going to get further there.”
Dworkin adds there is a bipartisan push on the federal level to buck the trend, but he would like to see more done locally as well.
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