The good news in this morning's numbers is that housing values in Cleveland are up, along with most other major cities in the country. But, whereas fast-growth cities on the east and west coast have seen home prices jump by 80 to 100 percent in the past five years, Cleveland has only eked out about a 13% gain. Of more concern to Cleveland State University Demographer Mark Salling is the number of housing vacancies in the city.
Mark Salling: It's largely in the home-owning population, not the renter population. Based on these estimates, the city of Cleveland lost about 10,000 homeowners in that five-year period.
One advantage that the Greater Cleveland area has is relatively low housing costs, when compared to cities like New York and Chicago. But Salling says that is off-set by what he calls a high "housing cost burden" - the combination of purchase price, utilities and repairs. That number is considered a "burden" when it rises above 30% of household income. And the burden continues to rise here and in many other American cities. David C. Barnett, 90.3.