Home values rising in Detroit, especially for Black homeowners, study shows
DETROIT– Home values in Detroit — especially for Black residents — have risen by billions of dollars in the years since the city exited the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, according to a study released Tuesday.
According to the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions report, the added value of housing for Black residents increased 80% between 2014 and 2022.
For Black homeowners, assessed home values rose from $3.4 billion to $6.2 billion during that period, while the net value of all owner-occupied homes in the city rose from $4.2 billion to $8.1 billion.
Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference Tuesday announcing the study’s findings: “For decades, Detroit homeowners watched their family wealth evaporate as the value of their homes fell. Generational wealth thanks to the comeback of the neighborhoods in our city.”
“When I was sworn in 10 years ago, a thousand people were leaving this city every month,” Duggan added. “People were jumping out of Detroit right and left. Those who stayed are $4 billion better off because they were betting on the city of Detroit.”
Facing a budget deficit of more than $300 million and debt of $18 billion or more, a state-appointed manager filed for bankruptcy in July 2013. Detroit emerged from bankruptcy in December 2014, with about $7 billion in debt restructured or wiped out. Since that time, the city has balanced budgets and surpluses, improved services and reduced misery.
Many of Detroit’s improvements are visible in the vibrant downtown area and Midtown, but the increased home values were geographically dispersed in neighborhoods across the 220-square-mile city.
Neighborhoods that were among the poorest in 2014 — especially those with high concentrations of Hispanic and Latino residents — showed the most growth in home and real estate values, according to the University of Michigan study.
The average sales price for homes in the Condon neighborhood was about $7,500 in 2014. In 2022, the price was over $71,000.
According to the study, tax foreclosures have decreased by 95% across Detroit since 2016.
According to the 2020 Census, Detroit’s total population is approximately 639,000. About three-quarters of the city’s residents are black.
Black homeowners represented 82% of all housing wealth generated in 2014 and 77% in 2022, according to the study.
White homeowners in Detroit had the second largest share of net home wealth, accounting for 11% of net worth in 2014 and 13% in 2022. Hispanic homeowners had 4% and 6%, respectively.
Melvin Chuney, a Black man, says the value of his home has tripled.
“It’s amazing and it’s real,” Chuney said at Tuesday’s news conference. “It is much more valuable than ten years ago. People are fighting to get into this neighborhood that people were walking away from just a few years ago.”
Duggan was elected mayor in November 2013 and has overseen the city’s comeback since early 2014. He announced last week that Detroit has surpassed $1 billion in combined public-private investment, delivering more than 4,600 affordable rental units over the past five years.
In recent weeks, two rating agencies also upgraded Detroit’s credit rating to investment grade.
“Ten years after the bankruptcy filing, Detroit’s financial position and economic condition are the strongest in decades,” said S.&P wrote in his report. “Liquidity and reserves are at record levels, debt levels are manageable, population decline is leveling off, the stock of blighted and vacant properties has declined significantly thanks to expanded city-administered programs, assessed property values have increased for five consecutive years .”