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Sales drop, prices jump for metro Detroit real estate market in January. File photo DETROIT, MI - January marked the 11th straight month that metro Detroit median home sales prices rose by double-digits, climbing 38 percent year-over year to $110,000 according to Realcomp.
Whiles sales prices continued to grow, inventory and the number of sales continued to shrink. Realcomp, the Farmington Hills-based multiple listings service for southeast Michigan, reports that home sales in metro Detroit fell 14 percent to 3,336 units in January. Sales in terms of units were flat in December. Across Realcomp's total coverage area, which includes southeast Michigan and a small portion of northern Ohio, on-market inventory shrunk 10 percent to 19,263 homes. Whites moving to Detroit, city that epitomized white flight. DETROIT — Whites are moving back to the American city that came to epitomize white flight, even as blacks continue to leave for the suburbs and the city’s overall population shrinks.
Detroit is the latest major city to see an influx of whites who may not find the suburbs as alluring as their parents and grandparents did in the last half of the 20th century. Unlike New York, San Francisco and many other cities that have seen the demographic shift, though, it is cheap housing and incentive programs that are partly fueling the regrowth of the Motor City’s white population. “For any individual who wants to build a company or contribute to the city, Detroit is the perfect place to be,” said Bruce Katz, co-director of the Global Cities Initiative at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
“You can come to Detroit and you can really make a difference.” “A young person can move here with $10,000 and start up a small flex space for artists or artists’ studios,” Seger said. Elizabeth St. St. Metro detroit housing prices. The median sales price of homes and condominiums in Metro Detroit hit an eight-year high of $165,000 in May, while total sales of residential properties jumped by 8 percent compared with a year ago, according to data by Farmington Hills-based Realcomp II Ltd.
The sales figures continue to show the new normal in the Metro Detroit housing market: prices steadily climbing as inventory remains far below pre-recession levels. The result is that home buyers often find themselves in bidding wars over properties, said Patrick Carolan, a realtor for Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel in Birmingham. “It is competitive, lots of overbids, lots of multiple offer situations,” Carolan said. Like many realtors, Carolan said it’s too hard to predict more inventory will come online. “If it was going to change this year, it would have probably already happened,” he said. For the past several years, scarce inventory has plagued the market. Inventory remains low for a number of reasons. Laguilar@detroitnews.com. "Devil's Night" Fires Doused In Detroit. The city that used to burn on the night before Halloween as mischief-makers torched abandoned buildings has largely doused its Devil's Night by mobilizing tens of thousands of citizens and law-enforcement personnel each year to patrol city neighborhoods.
"It's unfortunate of course that we have to do this, but this is the hand we're dealt," said Luther Keith, executive director of ARISE Detroit! , a coalition of community groups hoping to keep Detroit safe from fires and vandalism around Halloween. At its peak in 1984, 810 fires were reported in Detroit from Oct. 29 to 31, fueled by, among other things, Devil's Night's growing notoriety and the city's large number of abandoned buildings. But the number of blazes has dropped - 147 fires were reported last year for the three days ending Oct. 31, up from the 113 reported in 2006 and 121 in 2005. "It's a testament to Detroiters that we understand that we have to be proactive," Keith said. Housing crisis accelerates blight in Detroit neighborhoods. By Debra Watson and Anne Moore 21 October 2008 Dire conditions in a once prosperous East Side Detroit neighborhood underscore the impact the wave of home foreclosures is having on working people across the United States.
While the effect of the mortgage crisis on the Wall Street banks is headline news, the media rarely inquires into the social consequences of the foreclosure epidemic. Some three-quarters of a million people have lost their homes across the US so far this year and foreclosure filings are up 82.6 percent from a year ago, according to the web site ForeclosureS.com. The same report notes that 107,500 homes were lost in September alone. The city of Detroit has the highest repossession rate for a major city in the US, with real-estate owned (REO) homes—that is, homes repossessed by banks or mortgage holders—at 3.7 percent in 2007. The social reality behind these figures is illustrated by a recent sale of a foreclosed home in Detroit.
"Look around here. Detroit’s Real Estate Market Sees Rebound - News Features. Detroit's Housing Disaster Is Its Leaders' Fault. Private citizens pick up the slack as Detroit cuts public services. With the city of Detroit now $2.5 billion in debt and the cancellation of city services, teams of private citizens are helping to provide basic services.
To avoid bankruptcy, the city is being run by an independent emergency manager. Payments on unsecured debt were already canceled last month in an effort to save money and spend what they have on services such as the police force and fire departments. But with the lack of funds come the dismissal of several city services, which has spurred a measure of civic pride, Fox News reports. After the city abandoned a long awaited light-rail project, 26-year-old Andy Didirosi was “pissed” and chose to fund a transportation plan himself. A self-described “gearhead,” Didirosi had several old Greyhounds and school buses on hand and started the Detroit Bus Company, Fox reports.