Dynamics of Suburbanization in Ohio Metropolitan Areas

We conducted two studies on the dynamics of suburbanization in Ohio's seven largest metropolitan areas. In the first study, we applied a model for projecting change in the number of households living in a central city, based on the amount and location of housing development in the metropolitan area and on the number of households living in the area. We concluded that declining household growth coupled with continuing suburban development would result in greater population losses for cities. In the second study, we documented the movement of homesellers who had been living in the central counties of the seven areas. We found that suburban sellers moved outward and up in price almost as much as city sellers. Movement out of three of these cities, however, was less than in the other four; in those three cities, it was more possible to move up in price and remain in the city.