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Akron DSCR loans: the best ratio in Ohio, and the one number that can fake it

Akron prices at a 12.06% gross rental yield against 10.17% statewide — the highest of any major Ohio market this site tracks. That is a real number from a real source, and it is also the number most likely to produce a DSCR file that falls apart at underwriting, because the rent series behind it is not the rent series most investors quote back.

Get the rent comp right and Akron is the easiest place in Ohio to clear a lender's best pricing band. Get it wrong in either direction and you either kill a good deal or fund a bad one.

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Akron at a glance

County
Summit County
City population
190,469 (2020 Census)
Average home value
$131,255
Median asking rent
$1,350/mo (Jul 2026)
Average apartment rent
$995–$1,124 depending on source
Gross rental yield
12.06% (vs 10.17% statewide, Jul 2026)
Summit County effective tax rate
1.45% (site county dataset); 1.54% per propertytaxrates.org
Typical investor entry
$80,000–$130,000

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Two rent series, one city

The $1,350 figure is a median asking rent across the rental market. The $995–$1,124 figures are apartment averages. They describe different property types, and the gap between them is about 30% — wider than the entire pricing spread between a 1.10 and a 1.40 DSCR file.

The rule this site applies everywhere holds here with unusual force: match the property type on both sides of the ratio. If you are buying a detached three-bedroom in West Akron, comparable detached-house rents are your comp. If you are buying a small multifamily, apartment series are. Neighborhood tables that show University of Akron at $850, Firestone Park at $897 and Highland Square at $900 are apartment data — and other sources put Firestone Park single-family asking rents above $1,200 in the same period. Both can be true at once. They are not measuring the same houses.

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Submarkets

  • Highland Square — the walkable, dense, close-in neighborhood; small multifamily and older

detached stock, the strongest tenant demand per dollar of entry price in the city.

  • Firestone Park — company-built housing from Akron's rubber era, uniform in size and layout,

which makes rent comping unusually clean.

  • West Akron — the larger detached-house tier where the $1,350 asking rent figure lives.
  • Kenmore and Ellet — the low-basis end, where $80,000 purchases still exist and management

intensity rises accordingly.

  • The University district — student-adjacent, higher turnover, and a different underwriting

question entirely (see below).

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What the tax does to the yield

Summit County reads 1.45% effective on this site's county dataset and 1.54% on propertytaxrates.org. We publish both rather than average them; the gap is roughly $10/month on a $131,000 property, which will not decide a deal but will move a borderline ratio.

Either way, Summit sits below Cuyahoga's 1.80% and below Montgomery's 1.58%. That is the underrated half of Akron's yield advantage: the rent-to-price ratio gets the headlines, but Akron also keeps more of the rent than Ohio's other high-yield metros do, because its tax drag is milder.

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Worked DSCR: an Akron single-family

A $131,000 detached house at 20% down ($26,200), renting for $1,350/month, Summit County at 1.45% effective tax, $1,220/year landlord insurance:

Gross rent
$1,350
Summit County property tax ($131,000 × 1.45% ÷ 12)
$158
Landlord insurance ($1,220 ÷ 12)
$102
Principal & interest, $104,800 loan at an observed 7.20% Ohio average¹, 30-yr fixed
$711
PITIA (tax + insurance + P&I)
$971
DSCR (rent ÷ PITIA)
1,350 ÷ 971 = 1.39

A 1.39 is comfortably inside the band where DSCR lenders reserve their best pricing, and it is the strongest ratio any metro page on this site produces on a market-median property rather than a hand-picked deal.

Now underwrite the identical house at the $995 apartment average instead: PITIA is unchanged at $971, and the ratio collapses to 1.02 — a file that either gets declined or prices like a different product. Nothing about the property changed. Only the comp did.

¹ Ohio DSCR long-term-rental loans averaged 7.20% in Q2 2026 (Private Lender Link), inside the broader 6.5%–8.75% range lenders were publishing for DSCR product nationally. This is a market observation, not an offer — your rate depends on your DSCR, credit, LTV and loan purpose, and is set by the lender, not by us.

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If you are planning a short-term rental

Akron regulates short-term rentals under its own ordinance article, and the terms are specific: an operator must obtain a registration certificate from the city before operating or advertising a unit, registration renews annually at $250, and a 5.5% excise tax is collected from guests. The framework has been in force since January 2023.

For financing, the sequence matters more than the fee. Most DSCR lenders will qualify a short-term rental on either a long-term market rent or a documented STR income history, and their appetite varies more than it does on plain long-term rentals. Confirm two things before you write an offer: that your lender underwrites STR income at all, and that the property can legally be registered at its address. A DSCR built on nightly revenue the city will not permit is not a financing problem — it is a vacancy.

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The student-rental question

Property near the University of Akron rents well and rents differently: shorter terms, summer vacancy exposure, higher turnover cost, and rent rolls that a lender may discount. If you want the simplest possible DSCR file in this city, buy the detached three-bedroom in a family submarket. If you want the yield the student tier produces, plan for the operating load and expect more questions about the rent support.

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What a lender will scrutinize on an Akron file

  • The rent comp's property type — the single largest source of surprise on Akron files.
  • Minimum loan amount on the $80,000–$100,000 tier.
  • Age and condition of pre-1978 stock, which is most of the close-in inventory.
  • Occupancy and lease documentation if the property is tenanted at purchase — an in-place lease

below market is the ratio a lender will use, not the market rent you plan to reach.

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How Akron compares

Akron is the yield case without Cleveland's operating penalty. Cleveland offers similar rent-to-price on cheaper stock, then takes it back through the state's highest county tax rate and a two-year lead-certification cycle. Toledo is cheaper still and carries a mandatory lead-safe certificate on pre-1978 rentals. Against both, Akron's pitch is that the yield survives the deductions — which is why its worked example above lands at 1.39 while theirs land near 1.14.

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Akron FAQ

  1. 01Is Akron really Ohio's highest-yield market?
    On gross yield, yes — 12.06% versus 10.17% statewide as of July 2026. Gross yield is the first step of the math, not the last; the worked example above walks it to a financeable ratio.
  2. 02Why do Akron rent figures vary so much between sources?
    Because they measure different property types. Median *asking* rent across all rentals runs near $1,350; *apartment* averages run $995–$1,124. Neither is wrong; using the wrong one is.
  3. 03Do I need a license to run an Airbnb in Akron?
    You need a city registration certificate, renewed annually at $250, and you collect a 5.5% excise tax from guests. Verify current requirements with the city — ordinances change.
  4. 04Is Summit County's tax rate 1.45% or 1.54%?
    Both figures are published by credible sources and we show both. The difference is about $10/month on a $131,000 property. Pull the parcel's actual bill for anything closer than that.
  5. 05Can I finance a $75,000 Kenmore house with a DSCR loan?
    Check the lender's minimum loan amount first. The ratio will usually be excellent; the loan size is what disqualifies these deals.

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Get your Akron DSCR quote

Bring the property type, the matching rent comp and the parcel's real tax bill — that is the whole file in this market. Compare DSCR quotes on an Akron property →

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Sources for this page

Last updated 2026-08-28. Ordinance and market figures are summarized from the sources above and can change — verify current requirements with the City of Akron before purchase. Rate figures are market observations we compile, not offers of credit.