Taking on extra work hours. Cutting subscriptions. Staying in on the weekends.
These are some of the ways some Clevelanders are dealing with a wintertime rent spike, one that's arrived in time for the holidays, and holiday spending, and a continuing rise in overall cost of living.
Median rent in December for a one-bedroom, according to data from Zumper, a real estate data firm, shows Cleveland's at the highest since February, now hitting $1,250/month. Despite Akron and Columbus rents
leaping up 10 percent this year, Zumper's report shows, Cleveland's median rent is still the highest in Ohio.
The flurry of spikes and troughs in the wake of the pandemic has, both in coastal cities and further inland, led to shifts in the housing market.
But with interest rates still at a 22-year high, and a recession mentality trailing, plenty of those in the typical homebuying brackets are opting to deal with raising rents over the gymnastics required to own a home in 2024. Over half of those Zumper surveyed for their end-of-year report believe "the new American dream is being untethered to homeownership." (Thirty-eight percent "never plan to buy" a home altogether.)
"That’s a statistic no one in the real estate industry can afford to ignore," Anthemos Georgiades, Zumper's CEO, said via the report. "It’s also the most significant change in attitudes" in the past three, four years.
In Cleveland, rent increases come amidst the continued arrival of new multifamily buildings, those like the City Club Apartments on Euclid Avenue or Driftwood in Tremont, that are bound to list studios and one-beds at, or above, market value. An informal survey of
Clevelanders around town showed rent raises citywide, from dozens of dollars to hundreds.
"At first, it didn’t seem like it was a strain," Nicole Harvel, 26, a communications specialist living with her partner in Gordon Square, told Scene. This year, the couple's landlord raised their rent for their two-bedroom by $200, to $1,800.
"Months went by, started to realize with the cost of everything increasing, the extra $100 each—we were more strapped than in the previous year," she added. "We had to pay a little more attention to bank accounts. Do more cooking at home. You know."
For Micah Gates, 37, who relocated to a three-bedroom house in Clark-Fulton after his previous landlord sold his building, a $300 jump was significant.
A Tower City security guard living with his sister, Gates said he felt inclined to grab more overtime hours at work—which he's taken in stride. "Yeah, I do a little bit more," Gates said, walking through Tower City's garage on Prospect. "I'm just tired every now and then. That's all."
Though the Zumper report anticipates a softening of the rental market next year, it speculates there will be a sort of two-roads-diverged phenomenon, with property managers either cutting raising rents or renters themselves giving up and hiring a real estate agent.
It's kind of what Alec Rubin, a news editor in his fifties, did with his husband this summer.
After their mom and pop landlord hiked their typical $1,200 a month rent in West Park to $1,375, Rubin declined to renew and dove into the precarious world of house hunting. After a month of searching, Rubin and partner whittled their top five down to a two-story in Cuyahoga Falls.
Though Rubin didn't say how much his mortgage payment is, he suggested it's not too far off from his West Park three-bedroom. An economical wakeup came after: "How many times did we say to each other, 'Geez, I'm glad we're not starting out right now,'" Rubin said. "And rental qualities just seem like
crap right now."
Harvel said she's not yet ready to say bye to her Gordon Square two-bed: her landlord's nice, and utilities are included. But there's a ceiling in her book—if that monthly payment hits two grand, she's out.
"Even if it's over $1,900, I don't know if it's worth it," Harvel said. "I think we need to continue to keep our options open. The type of rental we’re going to be in. And where." She added, "but I mean, buying a house is kind of unfathomable to me."
Correction: The median rent for a one bedroom was initially incorrectly listed as $1,300. It's been updated to $1,250.
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