2nd quarter Slide in house prices slows in metro Toledo

8/26/2010

Housing prices in the metropolitan Toledo area continue to decline, but at a slower pace, a report released Wednesday shows.

Toledo-area housing prices were down 4.2 percent in the last year, nearly three times the national average and worse than all but Canton-Massillon, Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, and Lima among metro areas in Ohio, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency report.

The Toledo area ranked No. 152 among more than 360 metro areas nationwide for the second quarter, when housing prices were down 1.2 percent from the first quarter. That ranking is better than No. 174 in the first quarter, when Toledo area housing prices were down 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

Nationally, housing prices fell 1.6 percent in the past year but were up 0.9 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter, according to the report.

In five years, Toledo housing prices fell 13 percent, the new study found. The report does not provide average prices.

Nationally, housing prices have declined 4.4 percent in the last five years.

Among other nearby metro areas, Lima was ranked just behind Toledo at No. 153. It had a one-year drop of 4.3 percent, while its five-year drop was 2 percent and its first quarter to second-quarter decline was 0.2 percent, according to the report.

The Monroe area was ranked even lower at No. 205, and it had a one-year drop of 6 percent and five-year drop of 24 percent. Monroe's housing values, however, increased 0.4 percent for the second quarter from the first quarter, the report said.

Sandusky was not ranked nationally because of its size, but the report said it had a one-year decline in housing prices of 5.5 percent and a five-year decline of 10.2 percent, the report said.