Working-class buyers in Cincinnati are upgrading their homes even as national media frames affordability as a universal crisis that is blocking homeownership. According to Flor de Maria McNally, founder of De Maria Homes, a Keller Williams Advisors Realty affiliate that sells roughly 120 homes per year in the Cincinnati market, the affordability narrative playing out in coastal cities and high-cost metros does not apply here. The gap between national perception and local reality may be wider than most outside investors or analysts recognize.
Cincinnati’s stable industrial employment base anchors a housing market that operates by different rules than most of the country. Understanding those rules requires setting aside assumptions shaped by headlines from New York, Los Angeles, or Miami – and looking at what the data on the ground actually shows.
Local Affordability
McNally’s client base offers a ground-level view of who is actually buying homes in Cincinnati. The bulk of her transactions involve factory workers employed at facilities operated by companies such as Tyson, Heinz, Festo, and Honeywell – workers earning roughly $18 to $20 per hour. In most major U.S. markets, that income level would effectively lock buyers out of homeownership entirely. In Cincinnati, it does not.
Rather than being priced out, McNally’s existing clients are accessing higher price points than before, driven by incremental wage gains and the region’s persistently low home prices. “My same clients are moving up – they are not experiencing the same affordability issues that are being experienced at a national level,” McNally says.
This upward mobility within a working-class buyer segment is, in her view, the defining story of the Cincinnati market right now – not affordability stress.
The broader implication is significant. National affordability data aggregates markets with vastly different income-to-price ratios, potentially obscuring pockets where homeownership remains accessible. Cincinnati’s industrial employment base, combined with its historically low price floor, creates conditions in which wage growth translates more directly into purchasing power than in supply-constrained coastal markets.
Finding Strong Returns
Beyond primary homeownership, McNally argues that Cincinnati’s affordability dynamic creates unusually strong fundamentals for investors. She says 10 percent cap rates on rental properties are achievable in the current market without significant effort – a figure that would be considered exceptional in most U.S. metros.
“You can find a 10 percent cap rate pretty easily here in Cincinnati,” McNally says.
As a concrete example, she points to a current client purchasing a multifamily property for $350,000 that generates approximately $4,000 per month in rental income. That rent-to-price ratio reflects a market where demand for rentals is structurally high relative to available supply – a condition McNally says is frequently underestimated by outside observers.
She also notes that Cincinnati’s luxury segment – properties above $700,000 – moves notably more slowly than the $200,000 to $300,000 range. McNally attributes this to the local pricing culture: buyers in the region are accustomed to lower price points, and the pool of households that can comfortably absorb luxury-tier mortgages is comparatively small. This diverges from the national pattern, where luxury properties have often been more insulated from rate sensitivity than entry-level inventory.
Suburbs Outperform Downtown
While national affordability tells one story, geography within Cincinnati tells another. News coverage of the city tends to focus on downtown, which McNally says creates a distorted picture of where the real residential activity and investment opportunities sit.
“They see the news articles about downtown Cincinnati, but there’s so much more to Cincinnati,” McNally says. “There are really nice suburban neighborhoods where you can purchase a rental property.”
She argues that rental demand concentrated in those suburban areas is among the strongest in the country relative to market size – a claim that, if accurate, would position Cincinnati as a significantly underappreciated market for buy-and-hold investors. The combination of low acquisition costs, strong rental demand, and a stable industrial employment base creates conditions that McNally believes are not widely understood outside the region.
Wage Drive Upgrades
McNally’s practice is built around the segment of the market that national investors and out-of-state buyers most often overlook: working-class buyers and entry- to mid-tier properties in Cincinnati’s suburban corridors. Operating as a solo agent closing approximately 120 transactions annually, she says her approach centers on staying close to individual clients and understanding the specific employment and income dynamics that drive purchasing decisions.
The pattern she observes is straightforward: factory workers receiving modest raises or moving into better-paying roles at the same facilities are converting those gains into higher-priced home purchases. “It’s basically the same buyers, but they’re unlocking better opportunities in their workplace, so they’re able to buy higher-priced properties,” McNally says.
For investors considering Cincinnati, McNally’s current guidance is to focus on rentals and multifamily rather than fix-and-flip strategies, which she says lack sufficient margin in the current inventory environment. The most durable opportunity in the market aligns with the same dynamic driving her primary homebuyer clients upward: a working population with improving wages, limited housing supply, and a price floor that remains accessible relative to income.
McNally identifies a downward rate trend as the single factor most likely to further accelerate the market. If rates decline, Cincinnati’s affordability advantage could draw more attention from investors and relocating buyers priced out of higher-cost metros. Whether that attention arrives before or after the window narrows may depend on how quickly outside capital recognizes what is already happening on the ground.
About the Expert: Flor de Maria McNally is a founder of De Maria Homes and a Keller Williams Advisors Realty affiliate, operating in the Cincinnati, Ohio residential real estate market. She closes approximately 120 transactions annually as a solo agent, focusing on working-class buyers and entry- to mid-tier properties in Cincinnati’s suburban corridors.
This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed herein reflect those of the individuals quoted and do not represent an endorsement of any company, product, or service mentioned. Readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified professionals before making any investment decisions.
