06/01/2026
“How’s the market?”
It’s probably the question I’m asked most often right now.
And lately, it’s usually followed by another one:
“What if we have another crash like 2008?”
It’s a fair question.
The reality is that today’s housing market looks very different than the one that led to the Great Financial Crisis.
Back then, home prices were accelerating rapidly leading up to the crash. Today, appreciation has actually been slowing for several years. Nationally, home values increased nearly 19% in 2021, but by 2025 appreciation had cooled to just 1.3%.
That’s not what a housing bubble looks like.
And here in Ohio, even during the worst of the 2008 downturn, many of our markets held up far better than places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and parts of Florida. Cleveland saw values decline about 16.4% from peak to bottom. Painful? Absolutely. But nowhere near the 50%+ losses some markets experienced.
So what if that same 16.4% decline happened today?
Yes, buyers could potentially purchase at a lower price point. But what often gets left out of that conversation is what it would take to get there: widespread job losses, economic uncertainty, and a significant financial downturn.
Waiting for a crash isn’t really a strategy.
Here’s what many people also forget about 2008: housing wasn’t the cause. The economy was.
The crash was fueled by risky lending practices, bad mortgage products, and buyers qualifying for loans they couldn’t afford. Those conditions simply aren’t present today.
In fact, mortgage distress remains relatively low, homeowner equity is near record highs, and inventory is still well below what we’d typically need to see for a major price correction.
Could the market shift? Of course. Real estate is always changing.
But when I look at the data, I don’t see evidence of a 2008-style collapse in Northeast Ohio.
What I do see are buyers who continue building equity while others sit on the sidelines waiting for a market that may never arrive.
If you’re wondering what all of this means for your specific situation, let’s have a conversation. Every market is local, and every decision should be based on your goals, not the headlines. 😊
