US home price growth rose 3.03% year over year to the second quarter of 2026, the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s all-transactions index reported this week. Cleveland was well above that, with home prices up 4.35% in the same period. The market beats the national average on the three measures that matter most to anyone buying a home as an income property: price relative to local income, rent relative to price, and price growth. The popular Sun Belt markets cannot say all three.

Rent relative to price: A home you rent out in Cleveland recovers more of its purchase price each year than in better-known markets. Cleveland’s median gross rent of $1,087 a month generates 5.6% of its median home value annually. The national figure is 4.9%. Austin is 4.4%, Nashville 4.3%, Phoenix 4.6%, Miami 4.9%, Dallas 5.3%, according to the US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates (tables B25064 and B25077). That comparison is approximate, however: Median rent covers all rental units, including apartments, while median value covers owner-occupied homes.

Price relative to income. A typical Cleveland-area home costs 3.2 times the typical household’s annual income. The US ratio is 4.4. In the markets that draw the most out-of-state buyers, the gap is wider:

• Cleveland: $234,700 median home value on $72,532 median household income (3.2x)
• United States: $360,600 on $81,604 (4.4x)
• Dallas: $389,500 on $92,733 (4.2x)
• Austin: $482,800 on $99,897 (4.8x)
• Nashville: $449,300 on $88,800 (5.1x)
• Phoenix: $470,600 on $90,133 (5.2x)
• Miami: $510,600 on $80,625 (6.3x)

A lower ratio means local tenants can afford the rent and local buyers can afford the house when you sell it.

Price growth outpaces: Cheap markets often stay cheap. Cleveland has not. Beyond the 4.35% one-year home-price rise recorded in FHFA’s all-transactions House Price Index, Cleveland home prices rose 48.06% over five years. That one-year figure beats every market on this list. Austin rose 0.34% over the year and 15.25% over five. Dallas rose 0.59% and 35.05%. Phoenix rose 0.85% and 35.84%. Nashville rose 1.64% and 45.84%. Miami rose 1.74% and 59.25%, the one comparison market that has outrun Cleveland over five years. The US index rose 3.03% over one year and 41.29% over five.[1]

However: Cleveland’s population is flat. The Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 estimates put the metro area at 2,165,775 people in July 2025, down 0.91% from the April 2020 base. Austin grew 14.78% over the same period, Nashville 9.08%, Phoenix 7.78%. Cleveland’s price growth has come despite this, driven by tight supply rather than new arrivals. That makes the market less exposed to the boom-and-correction cycle Austin just went through — Austin’s five-year price growth is now a third of Cleveland’s. It also means anyone expecting Sun Belt-style population growth to lift values should look elsewhere. The facts bear out Cleveland’s value as a real-estate investment market: lower prices relative to local income, higher rent relative to price, and price growth that has held up while the boom markets cooled. To learn more about how to invest in this booming metro area, book a consultation today.

[1]Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index, all-transactions indexes, period ended 2026 Q2, released August 25, 2026. Figures computed from FHFA’s published index values; Dallas and Miami full-metro figures from FHFA’s multi-division metro dataset.