Risks from hazards found
Vast majority of Dayton-area residents exposed, study finds.
The vast majority of Dayton-area residents live in areas where they are at high risk of exposure to manmade environmental hazards, which can not only compromise their health but also drive down housing prices in their neighborhoods, according to a new study.
About 92 percent of Dayton-area ZIP codes were identified as having a high or very high risk of exposure to mand made hazards in California-based Realty Trac’s second annual “Manmade Environmental Hazards” housing report.
Despite its ranking, Dayton was not among the “Dirty Dozen” U.S. metros in the report with the highest percentage of ZIP codes at high risk, although Ohio was well represented.
Statewide, Dayton ranked just behind the Akron, Cleveland and Toledo metro areas, which accounted for a third of the dirtiest metros on the list with 100 percent of their ZIP codes counted as high risk.
Rounding out the 12 dirtiest metros were Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.; Stockton, Calif.; Louisville, Ky.; Reading, Pa.; El Paso, Texas; Los Angeles; Kansas City; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Bakersfield, Calif., according to Realty-Trac.
In assessing metros for the report, Realty-Trac analyzed 7,751 ZIP codes for the percentage of bad air quality days, the number of Superfund sites and brownfield sites, polluters and former drug labs per square mile.
“The lingering effects of drug particles in a home where drugs have been stored or made can have devastating effects on the health of the next occupants of the property,” said Michael Mahon, president at HER Realtors. “With a record number of drug overdose deaths across Ohio this year... consumers are strongly encouraged to require an air quality check to their pre-purchase property inspections.”
The report also looked at home prices in highrisk ZIP codes and found they were 1.8 percent lower than 10 years ago, on average, while average home prices in low-risk ZIP codes were 5.3 percent higher than 10 years ago.
However, short-term home price appreciation over the past year was stronger in the 50 housing markets with the highest prevalence of manmade hazards, Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, noted in the report.
Dayton area home prices reflect the short-term trend, with average prices hitting an all-time high of $152,975 in June, up about 7 percent from $142,407 in the same month a year ago, according to figures from the Dayton Area Board of Realtors.
Sales and prices have pulled back slightly since the hot summer selling season, but last month’s average sales price of $136,543 was up 2 percent from the same month a year ago, and total sales climbed nearly 6 percent over last year to 944, according the DABR’s latest monthly report.
For the year-to-date, the average sale price rose 5 percent to $140,640 over the past 11 months, up 11 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
DABR President Ralph Mantica said concerns about environmental hazards are isolated in certain neighborhoods and have not been an overriding issue holding back housing prices in the Dayton market.
“It’s there in some parts of the city, but, frankly, I’ve never encountered it in 29 years of selling houses all over the city,” Mantica said. “Obviously, if there is a neighborhood with several meth labs, yeah, unfortunately, the values in that neighborhood are going to be down. But overall, the activity we’re having now is great. We’re ahead of last year’s numbers and moving in the right direction.”
Nationwide, about 25 million U.S. homes are in ZIP codes at high risk or very high risk for manmade environmental hazards — representing 38 percent of the 64 million homes in all ZIP codes analyzed, according to the RealtyTrac report.
The ZIP codes with the lowest risk for manmade environmental hazards were Albuquerque, N.M.; Anchorage, Alaska; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Naples, Fla.; Palm Bay, Fla., Port St. Lucie, Fla.; Provo-Orem, Utah; Salinas, Calif.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; andWinston-Salem, N.C.