Written & reviewed by Stephen A. Sobin, President of Select Commercial Funding LLC
Ohio
Ohio Apartment Loans
Select Commercial arranges Ohio apartment loans from $1,500,000, up to 80% LTV, with rates as low as 5.80%. We compare Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, bank and bridge programs to fit your property. On larger balances, see multifamily loans. See current rates on every loan type we offer.
Get a Free QuoteFinancing Options in Ohio
Ohio apartment, multifamily and commercial properties each have dedicated financing. Pick the page that matches your property:
Financing more of the state? See Ohio commercial mortgages.
Financing in another state? Explore our apartment loans, multifamily loans and commercial mortgages nationwide.
Ohio Apartment Loan Rates
Rates updated as of September 7, 2026
| Loan Type | Rate* | Max LTV |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Year Fixed | 6.20% | Up to 80% |
| 7 Year Fixed | 6.28% | Up to 80% |
| 10 Year Fixed | 6.33% | Up to 80% |
| Loan Type | Rate* | Max LTV |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Year Fixed | 5.80% | Up to 75% |
| 7 Year Fixed | 5.88% | Up to 75% |
| 10 Year Fixed | 5.93% | Up to 75% |
- Streamlined underwriting for institutional multifamily
- Cash-out refinances are acceptable
- Interest-only and non-recourse options
- Minimum 1.25x debt-service-coverage ratio
Rates last updated September 7, 2026. Rates and maximum LTV shown represent our best-case pricing scenarios. Actual rates, LTV, and loan terms are subject to underwriting approval and may vary.
Compare Ohio Apartment Loan Programs
As a broker we compare every program for your best-fit Ohio apartment financing:
| Program | Typical rate* | Max leverage | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fannie Mae Small Loan | 6.20% | Up to 80% | Non-recourse, fixed to 30 yrs |
| Freddie Mac SBL | 6.15% | Up to 80% | $2M to $10M small balance |
| FHA / HUD | 6.30% | Up to 85% | Highest leverage, longest term |
| Bank / portfolio | 6.25% | Up to 75% | Flexible, value-add |
| Bridge | 9.00% | Up to 80% LTC | Reposition, lease-up |
Most apartment lenders look for a debt-service-coverage ratio (DSCR) of at least 1.25x.
2026 Ohio Apartment Loan Market
Ohio in 2026 is a yield market working through a supply wave, and both halves of that sentence matter when you go to borrow. Entry prices are among the lowest of any major market in the country: Cleveland traded around $108,253 a unit early in the year against a national average near $205,747, and Columbus around $147,587, up 4.3% over the year. Columbus market cap rates ran 6.7% to 6.8%, well wide of the 4.5% to 5.5% that stabilized product fetches in gateway cities.
The supply wave is the catch. Columbus delivered 9,472 units over a trailing twelve months, an all-time peak for the metro, and still had roughly 9,500 under construction, about 4.0% of existing inventory. Vacancy sat at 10.2% on an all-product basis, and asking rent growth of 0.7% (0.1% on an effective basis) was described as the weakest showing since the financial crisis. Cleveland ran 10.8% with slightly negative net absorption in the first quarter, and Cincinnati 9.3% after four consecutive quarterly increases (Q1 2026 figures, published spring and summer 2026).
A note on the numbers you will see quoted elsewhere. Vacancy in Ohio is reported two very different ways. All-product measures, which include units still leasing up, put Columbus and Cleveland around 10%. Stabilized-only measures, which exclude lease-up, put Cleveland occupancy at 94.5%, slightly better than the national stabilized average. Both are correct; they count different things. Any lender or broker quoting you a vacancy figure for an Ohio market should tell you which one they are using.
Across Ohio we arrange apartment building loans from $1,500,000 through agency, bank, FHA and bridge programs. Rate and leverage follow the rent roll and the trailing twelve months of operating income, not your personal income.
Ohio Markets We Finance
Ohio’s three C metros are not interchangeable. Columbus is the growth market absorbing the most new supply, Cleveland is the deep-value market with the lowest basis in the state, and Cincinnati sits between them. Where your building is changes which lenders bid and how they size it.
Columbus
The fastest-growing Ohio market and the one carrying the most construction. Asking rent around $1,400 with effective rent near $1,349, vacancy 10.2% on an all-product basis, and a trailing-twelve-month delivery total of 9,472 units that set an all-time metro record, with roughly 9,500 more under way. Absorption has been genuinely strong at 6,312 units over twelve months; supply simply arrived faster. Recent trades ran about $147,587 a unit at cap rates near 6.7%. For a stabilized building with a clean rent roll the agencies are competitive here; a property in lease-up is a bank or bridge conversation until occupancy holds.
Cleveland
The lowest basis of any sizeable market we lend in, at roughly $108,253 a unit against a national average near $205,747. Asking rents ran $1,246 to $1,309 depending on the source, up about 2.8% over the year on a stabilized basis, with stabilized occupancy of 94.5%, marginally better than the national stabilized average. The construction pipeline is modest at roughly 3,300 units. Cleveland apartment building financing rewards owners who can document a capital plan, because the stock is old and lenders price deferred maintenance carefully.
Cincinnati
Vacancy of 9.3% in the first quarter of 2026 after four consecutive quarters of increases, with asking rent around $1,446, the highest of the three C metros, and modest positive absorption of 157 units in the quarter. A steadier, less volatile market than Columbus on the supply side, and one where regional banks and credit unions compete hard for apartment complex loans against the agencies.
Toledo, Akron and the smaller cities
Lower cost per unit again, higher going-in yields, and very little new construction to compete with existing buildings. These markets are dominated by regional banks, credit unions and agency small-balance programs rather than by institutional capital, and an experienced local owner with a clean rent roll can often clear more leverage here than on a comparable Columbus asset.
Where we do not yet have a dedicated apartment page for an Ohio city, the link goes to our commercial mortgage page for that market, which covers apartment and mixed-use property alongside other commercial types.
Ohio Cash Flow and the 2026 Reassessment Year
Ohio gets sold as a cash flow market. The 2026 numbers support that on entry price, and it is worth being precise about why, because the reason is not what most people assume.
The case is basis, not momentum. Ohio asking rents of roughly $1,246 to $1,446 run 24% to 35% below the national average, while entry prices run even further below it, which is what produces the going-in yield. Columbus cap rates near 6.7% sit 150 to 300 basis points wide of stabilized gateway product. That spread is real and it is the argument for buying here. What does not currently support the story is operating momentum: Columbus rent growth of 0.7% is the weakest since the financial crisis, and vacancy across the three C metros is elevated by a supply wave. Underwrite the yield you buy, not a rent growth curve.
2026 is a reassessment year across most of the state. Ohio counties revalue on a six-year full reappraisal with an interim update at year three, and an unusual number of Ohio markets land in 2026. Franklin County, covering Columbus, is in a triennial update year, with tentative countywide residential values up about 9% and a range of roughly 7% to 14% by school district; new values were issued in June 2026 and first reach tax bills in 2027. Hamilton County, covering Cincinnati, is also in a triennial update year. Summit County, covering Akron, and Montgomery County, covering Dayton, are both in a full sexennial reappraisal. Cuyahoga County, covering Cleveland, is next up in 2027, and its last full reappraisal in 2024 produced an average countywide value increase of roughly 32%, which is a useful sense of the magnitude these cycles can carry.
What that means for your loan. The tax figure on your current operating statement may not be the tax figure your lender underwrites, and in Ohio right now that gap can be large enough to move debt service coverage on its own. Ask what tax number is being used before you reach term sheet. Note also that Ohio’s countywide values are set separately by property class, so a headline residential increase does not necessarily transfer one for one to an apartment parcel; confirm the figure for your class rather than assuming.
Two pieces of context worth having. A package of property tax legislation took effect in March 2026 that caps certain levy and millage revenue growth, which moderates how quickly reassessment flows into bills. And the citizen initiative to abolish Ohio property tax altogether did not qualify for the November 2026 ballot, so nothing about the system is changing this cycle.
Refinancing an Ohio Apartment Building
Ohio refinances in 2026 turn on two questions more than on rate: what your taxes are about to be, and whether your building is stabilized or still competing with new lease-up product down the road.
Start with the rent roll and the trailing twelve. Proceeds on an apartment complex refinance are sized on in-place income, so the current rent roll and twelve months of operating statements set your number first. In Columbus especially, where record deliveries are still leasing up, an underwriter will look hard at whether your rents are holding or whether you are quietly matching concessions across the street.
Then the tax line, which is the Ohio-specific step. If your county is in a reappraisal or update year, or you bought recently above the last assessed value, the taxes on your statement are not the taxes the lender will run. This is the single most common reason an Ohio refinance comes back smaller than the owner expected. Raise it early rather than discovering it at underwriting.
Then the building itself. Much of Ohio’s rental stock is old, and roofs, boilers, windows and electrical carry real weight in the property condition report. Owners with a documented capital plan get treated very differently from owners without one, and on a low-basis asset that documentation is often worth more proceeds than a slightly better rate would be.
Then the note. Confirm maturity and whether prepayment is yield maintenance, a step-down or open, and start six to nine months ahead of a balloon so you can shop more than one lender. Cash-out is available on most programs where the equity supports it.
Send the rent roll and the trailing twelve and we will underwrite the building the way the lender will, then come back with written options inside 48 hours at no cost. Ohio apartment loans start at $1,500,000, whether it is a sixteen-unit building in Cleveland or a garden complex outside Columbus.
Ohio Multifamily Financing
Apartment loan and multifamily loan describe one product: debt on a building with five or more residential units. We arrange it across Ohio, from a small brick walk-up to an institutional portfolio, and the term used changes nothing about the underwriting.
Loan size changes who competes. Because Ohio basis is low, a great many Ohio buildings sit in the range where regional banks, credit unions and the agency small-balance programs are sharpest, and where a local relationship and a clean rent roll do most of the work. Larger balances bring in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, life companies and CMBS, and multifamily loan rates there are often tighter because the loan is big enough to securitize. The tradeoff is a heavier package: full appraisal, property condition report, environmental review, and sizing driven by net operating income, debt service coverage and debt yield.
Ohio multifamily lenders weigh two things more heavily than lenders elsewhere: the reassessment exposure on the tax line and the condition of older stock. Have both documented and the file moves. Send the rent roll and the trailing twelve months and we will tell you which multifamily lenders are sharpest on your property, and what multifamily financing looks like at that size.
Ohio Apartment Loan Types We Serve
We arrange financing across Ohio for:
- Urban high-rise apartment buildings
- Suburban garden apartment complexes
- Small apartment buildings with 5+ units
- Underlying cooperative apartment loans
- Portfolios of small apartment and rental properties
- Mixed-use and other multifamily property
Apartment Loans Across Ohio
We arrange apartment loans throughout Ohio, not only in the metros above. Dayton, Youngstown, Canton and the smaller industrial cities are financed through the same agency, bank and credit union programs, and a well-occupied building in a secondary Ohio market often supports more leverage than its owner expects.
For larger balances see our Ohio multifamily loans. For office, retail, industrial and owner-occupied property see Ohio commercial mortgages, and nationwide we lend in most major U.S. cities.
Recent Apartment Loan Closings
A sample of apartment and multifamily loans we have arranged for investors nationwide.
Other Property & Loan Types We Finance in Ohio
As a full-service commercial mortgage broker, we arrange Ohio financing across every major property and loan type:
We consider commercial loan requests of all sizes, beginning at $1,500,000.
What Our Clients Say
“I am a veterinarian who purchased an existing practice. I was surprised to find a company that offered 100% financing at a good rate, with great terms and rates for medical office financing.”
Carol K. · Chicago, IL“I spoke to several commercial lenders before finding Select Commercial. They got me a lower rate and their service was exceptional. If you need a multifamily loan, you need to talk to Stephen.”
Nathan B. · Philadelphia, PA“Select Commercial was very helpful with my multifamily mortgage. Stephen went over several options and we came up with the best lender to meet my needs. I got the funds and also lowered my payments.”
Gary M. · Portland, OR“Select Commercial offered 100% financing for my medical practice when my bank would have required 20% down. They delivered something my bank could not, and handled everything professionally.”
John C. · Boston, MAGet Your Ohio Apartment Loan Quote
No cost, no obligation. Written answers within 48 hours on Ohio apartment loans from $1,500,000.
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- Written answers within 48 hours
- For 5+ unit and commercial properties, $1.5M and up