CINCINNATI — The high price to buy a new home has more people looking to rent and more companies building entire neighborhoods full of new homes just to rent. 

What You Need To Know

  • Redwood Homes is building entire neighborhoods across the state specifically for renters 

  • The company's officials say high home prices are driving up demand for their rentals 

  • Redwood officials say they're planning to offer incentives if the market drives rental prices up

For Haleigh Montz, it is the perfect house. She's showing a model of the one she rents. She’s been renting for the past five years.

“Here in Cincinnati alone, it’s still more cost effective than having a mortgage," said Montz. 

The average price to buy a home in Ohio is more than $250,000, according to Redfin, a real estate firm, but there’s still a price tag for a brand new rental. 

“The rent prices do vary with floor plan and location. So typically, I know here at the Cincinnati location, our prices do start at around $2,500 (per month),” said Montz. 

Even with that cost for a rental, Montz, a renter and leasing agent, said she’s seeing more people looking to rent instead of buy.

“Typically, when we’re in new construction, we’re doing tours every hour on the hour," said Montz. 

It’s part of the reason the company she works for, Redwood Homes, is building brand new houses in Cincinnati and across the state specifically to rent them out.

“Last year, we completed just under 2,400 homes. That’s the largest volume we’ve experienced as a company,” said Redwood Homes Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Construction Kevin Kwiatkowski. 

He said while costs are the reason behind the uptick in demand, tariffs on new construction materials could impact rental prices.

“Now we have what's called the lease up properties, those are properties that we're currently constructing and as we finish a building of four or six units, we begin to lease those. those are kind of paying the real time costs of today, so those deals we have to price according to the market," said Kwiatkowski. 

He said they plan to offer more incentives if market pricing goes up, and with demand increasing, they’re also planning for built-to-rent homes in other states.

But Montz plans on staying in her perfect home. 

"It’s just been as close to a home that you can get without actually buying your own home," she said.