LAKEWOOD, Ohio – Pick the reason. Whether it’s improved access to the lakefront, updated schools, a renewed interest in walkable communities, or something else, Lakewood has become a hot real estate market

The median price for single-family homes of $196,000 in Lakewood over the first seven months this year was up 52% from just $129,000 during the same period in 2014.

In no other Cuyahoga County community where selling prices are typically over $100,000 has the median price risen so sharply, cleveland.com research found. Only in Cleveland (up 66% to $58,000) and Maple Heights (up 65% to $51,000) has the median price gone up faster.

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To people like Melissa Pereksta, who has worked as a real estate agent in Lakewood on and off for more than 20 years, the surge in prices makes perfect sense.

“This new push with a lot of people wanting to live in walkable neighborhoods is driving this. I refer to Lakewood as the West Side Cleveland Heights. But it’s easier to get to,” said Pereksta, an agent in Howard Hanna’s Lakewood office.

“We get calls from people moving into the area from out of town. They often want to live within walking distance of things to do. Good grief, you would have to walk far in Lakewood to find something not to do.”

With an estimated 50,100 people packed into 5.5 square miles, Lakewood is Ohio’s most densely populated city. The main commercial streets of Madison and Detroit avenues stretch the length of the town, meaning no one lives more than a few blocks from a place to grab a drink or a bite to eat.

The schools, all either new or refurbished in recent years, are close enough to homes that there is no school busing to even the primary schools.

Lakewood has been a leader in home sales price growth over the last five years. See city-by-city details in the chart at the bottom of this story. (Rich Exner, cleveland.com)

And it can still be a bargain for people looking to live on the west side.

Lakewood’s median selling price – even after the sharp increase to $196,000 – is in the middle among northwestern Cuyahoga County suburbs:

North Olmsted is up 25% in 2019 from the same time in 2014 to $169,000.

Fairview Park is up 23% to $177,000.

Bay Village is up 31% to $233,500.

Rocky River is up 3% to $248,000.

Westlake is up 20% to $275,000.

Median sales prices for single-family homes by area of Lakewood in 2019 (January to July), according to cleveland.com research. For this map, the north-south divider is Clifton Boulevard, and the east-west divider is Belle Avenue. (Rich Exner, cleveland.com)

Lakewood homes go for the most near Lake Erie, as would be expected. From Clifton Boulevard north, the median price was $367,000 on 16 sales in western Lakewood and $512,057 on 13 sales in east of Belle Avenue from January through July.

South of Clifton Boulevard, the median was $184,900 on 195 sales in western Lakewood and $196,250 on 161 sales for the eastern side of town, cleveland.com found.

Duplexes citywide sold for a median price of $185,000 on 163 sales.

The Solstice Steps in Lakewood Park has become a popular place to watch the sunset since opening in late 2015. (Rich Exner, cleveland.com)

Patty Ryan, president of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, said she has noticed the same type of increased interest for commercial space for small businesses.

“Our demographics are really attractive to businesses,” Ryan said, noting the number of young professionals with solid incomes.

Per capita income of $32,947 is 14% above the statewide average, according to Census Bureau estimates. The median age of 35 is 4 years younger than Ohio as a whole. And 45% of the adults in Lakewood have at least a bachelor’s degree, in comparison to 27% statewide.

Like Pereksta, Ryan pointed to an increasing interest across the country in people looking to live in urban, more compact communities.

“They are not deterred by smaller yards or a century home. They want their kids to be able to walk to school. They want to be able to walk to the store,” Ryan said.

What’s not walkable in Lakewood, Ryan noted, is often just a short drive away.

“We’re convenient to downtown Cleveland. We have the lakefront, and we’re 15 minutes to the airport,” Ryan said.

Downtown Cleveland's skyline view from Lakewood Park. (Rich Exner, cleveland.com)

Lakewood in 2015 completed a $2.1 million renovation of Lakewood Park, creating improved access to Lake Erie and the Solstice Steps now popular for watching sunsets. Nearby, Edgewater Park has undergone extensive improvements since being taken over by the Cleveland Metroparks.

And in 2017, Lakewood schools completed a years long capital improvement plan that included rebuilding or renovating the high school, two middle schools and seven elementary schools.

All those things, Ryan and Pereksta said, are factors in rising property values.

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner. Find data-related stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.

Median sales price

This chart shows the median single-family home sales prices for the first seven months of 2014 and 2019. Only Cuyahoga County communities with at least 50 sales each year are shown.