Much has been written in the national press about Detroit over the last week and in the wake of that city’s filing for bankruptcy protection on July 18th. The debates about how the situation was allowed to get so bad and what is to be done now have been lively. For those of us who live in the shadow of this once great city, none of this is new. These debates have raged here for years, and the march to insolvency has been a long one, like a Greek tragedy playing out in slow motion. It is the true scope of the challenge that is difficult for those not familiar with Detroit to fully understand.
Today’s market size post is the size of the housing market in the City of Detroit, more specifically, the total number of housing units in that city. The figure provided includes housing units that are not habitable. In fact, when one calculates the percentage of housing units in Detroit that are actually occupied the number is only around 20%. To further place this housing stock figure into context, the population of the city is also provided below as is the median sale price of a home in Detroit.
Geographic reference: Detroit
Year: 2011
Market size: Housing Units: 1,886,537
Market size: Population: 701,500 (2012)
Market size: Median Home Sale Price: $9,568 (in May of 2013 this median price had risen to $11,100)
Source: [1] “Detroit (city), Michigan,” State and County QuickFacts, a presentation of current U.S. Census data originally made available online here. For updated Census data, see the Further reading section below. [2] JC Reindl, “Chapter 9 Unlikely to Hurt Home Prices,” Detroit Free Press, July 21, 2013, page B1. [3] Charles B. Stockdale, Douglas A. McIntyre and Michael B. Sauter “American’s Ten Sickest Housing Markets,” NBCNews.com, August 5, 2011, available online here.
Original source: U.S. Census Bureau, S&P/Case-Shiller and Realcomp
Further reading: “Selected: Detroit city, Michigan; Michigan,” Quick Facts, U.S. Census Bureau available online here; “Detroit city, Michigan,” American FactFinder, U.S. Census Bureau available online here; “Detroit, MI Schools,” AreaVibes available online here.
Posted on July 23, 2013