Cleveland's Home Prices Are Climbing Fast: CLE Daily

🌤️ 86°; Sunny and humid

🌴 Primate Forest Nears Its Debut: Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is putting the finishing touches on its $60 million Primate Forest transformation, converting the former Rainforest into a 140,000-square-foot home for orangutans, gorillas and more. The renovation adds a new indoor playground and PNC Play Space for rainy-day visits, and zoo director Chris Kuhar says the space could open in the next couple of weeks.

🏈 Homefield Advantage, Finally: John F. Kennedy High School cut the ribbon on Roye Kidd Field, a new $5.7 million stadium and track named for the late football coach, ending years of the Fighting Eagles traveling to other schools for practices and home games.

ICYMI: Remember when Cleveland's Planning Commission approved the design for Downtown's Canal Basin Park, the boardwalk-and-playground plan for the old canal terminus? A 2,500-square-foot, 15,000-pound public art installation just landed on the site, open free through Sept. 13. 

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Trivia Question

What Henry Dreyfus-designed streamlined New York Central day train debuted in 1936 with an initial run between Cleveland and Detroit?

Real Estate: Cleveland home prices are climbing faster than almost anywhere else in the country.

By Harrison Whittaker, NEO Trans

Cleveland ranked seventh among the 40 largest U.S. housing markets for home price growth in July, according to a new Homes.com report analyzing CoStar data, with the median sale price up 4.1% year over year, well ahead of the 2.6% national pace.

Still a Bargain, Relatively Speaking: Even with the gains, Cleveland's $279,000 median sale price ranks 39th out of 40 metros, more than $120,000 below the $400,000 national median. Only Pittsburgh is cheaper. The priciest markets are all in California, led by San Francisco at $1.55 million.

Sellers Still Have the Upper Hand: Homes are selling for 98.7% of asking price and moving in an average of 46 days. Total inventory is up 4.3% year over year but remains 29.1% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, leaving just 3.2 months of supply compared to 4.7 months nationally.

Townhomes and Condos Are Having a Moment: Townhome sales jumped 21.7% year over year, and condo sales rose 10.2%, while single-family home sales grew a comparatively modest 3.5%, a shift attributed to smaller households, affordability pressure and warming attitudes toward urban living.

Developers Are Taking Notice: Bedrock is reportedly eyeing a townhome development on the west end of its $3.5 billion Downtown riverfront project, a sign builders are chasing the same shift in buyer demand.

Worth Noting: A year ago, Cleveland topped this same ranking as the fastest-appreciating market in the country and was the single cheapest metro on the list. It's since slipped to 7th and 39th, respectively, but still outpaces the national market on both price growth and sales volume.

Read the full story.

Talk of the Town

Cleveland's police oversight board is struggling to get through a meeting. A Wednesday night session was recessed for over an hour after a former commissioner was cited for disorderly conduct amid a heated exchange with a local pastor. Commissioners say the disruptions, ongoing for more than two years, are now crossing into workplace violence, and they're pressing the city to intervene. 

Lakewood officials aren't buying FirstEnergy's latest promises. After state regulators proposed a $3 million fine over persistent outages, the utility sent the city a six-page letter pledging system upgrades and better outage communication. Mayor Meghan George says she'll keep pushing for more state investigations until Lakewood actually sees results.

Cleveland State students lost their discounted transit pass, again. The U-Pass, which gave students unlimited RTA access since 2007, expired for good at the end of the spring semester after a brief opt-in revival last year. Students now get five free RTA rides and must otherwise pay full fare, nearly double the old rate.

A high-profile Cleveland-area custody case took another turn in court. Rep. Max Miller and his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, settled Wednesday on a restraining-order motion, agreeing that future depositions will happen at neutral sites with no outside contact between attorneys. Both sides claimed victory; the case returns to court next month.

Things To Do This Week

Cleveland Guardians (Sept. 1-4): The Guardians are back home for a busy week, taking on the Toronto Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers. Friday, there will be a doubleheader to make up for a postponed game back in June. $20-$192, various times, 2401 Ontario St., Cleveland, mlb.com

Movies in the Park (Sept. 3): Enjoy an outdoor movie viewing in Crocker Park for the last time this summer. For the Movies in the Park finale, they will be showing Moana 2. Bring your blankets and end your summer off right! Free, sundown, 186 Union St., Westlake, crockerpark.com

Geauga County Fair (Sept. 3-4): Head out to Ohio’s oldest continuous fair, stretching Thursday night through Labor Day weekend. Thursday night, catch the demolition derby, and Friday, rock out with Journey tribute band Escape. $10-$12, kicks off Thursday at 8:30 a.m., 14373 N. Cheshire St., Burton, geaugafair.com

Cleveland Taco Fest at Jacob’s Pavilion (Sept. 4): Need dinner plans? Try tacos from more than 30 local Cleveland taquerias at the Cleveland Taco Fest, starting Friday and extending through the weekend. How can you say no to two stages of live entertainment and all of the margaritas you can drink? $6.66-$8.72, 4 p.m., 2014 Sycamore St., Cleveland, tacofestcle.com

Friday's Trivia Answer

Abdullah Mason is the third Clevelander to win a professional boxing title. Who are the previous two? Johnny Kilbane (featherweight) and Joey Maxim (light heavyweight)

Check back tomorrow for the answer to today's question

From the Editor

Cleveland's housing market keeps threading a needle: prices climbing faster than almost anywhere else, yet still one of the country's most affordable metros. That combination won't last forever, especially with townhomes and condos suddenly in high demand and builders like Bedrock taking notice. If you've been priced out elsewhere, this might still be the window. Worth watching where it goes from here.

— Ron Ledgard, Managing Editor

Have a story idea? Tell us what we should cover at conversation@clevelandmagazine.com.

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