Rising Rents, Shrinking Options: The Affordability Challenge in Columbus, Ohio

Over the past decade, the Columbus, Ohio housing market has evolved from steady and predictable to a case study in the pressures of rapid growth. As commercial real estate consultants and appraisers, we’ve watched how rent increases, population shifts, and new development have reshaped neighborhoods and tested the balance between opportunity and affordability.

Between 2015 and 2023, average rents in the Columbus MSA rose by 5.6%. While that figure may seem modest, its effects have been significant. Ohio’s manufacturing legacy is appealing to business developments across the region and has drawn new residents and employers. This in turn has driven up housing demand faster than supply can keep up. For many long-term residents, this growth has meant rising costs and limited choices, a pattern we’re seeing in cities across the country. “In some areas of Columbus, nearly half of all housing is considered overcrowded or substandard.”

Columbus’s population now exceeds 2.2 million, with roughly 875,000 households. Beneath those numbers lies a growing affordability gap. Middle to lower-income families, along with many elderly residents, are slipping through the cracks. For example, as older property owners sell duplexes and small apartment buildings, new investors often renovate minimally and raise rents. The previous tenants, generally long-term residents, are left with desperate options. Families at the margins face difficult trade-offs between rent, healthcare, and education. And the city’s expedited eviction process, among the fastest in the nation, adds urgency to the crisis. For many working families, one missed paycheck can mean the loss of a home.

Proposed federal cuts to key housing programs threaten to deepen local challenges. The responsibility to assist with ensuring safe and affordable housing shifts to city and state governments. Columbus has made important strides by investing in shelters and warming centers but more than 100 homeless encampments on any given night highlight how fragile the system remains. From a valuation and investment perspective, affordability pressures can distort property values, reduce tenant stability, and impact neighborhood performance.

FRG helps clients interpret these dynamics through careful analysis, local insight, and an understanding that housing markets succeed only when communities succeed.