UM study: Detroit homeowners’ $700M wealth gains in ‘23 bring total to $4.6B in past decade

2025
  • Latest figures in updated UM report shows Detroit homeowner occupants gained nearly a 10% increase in one year
  • Black homeowners see 75% of total gain, amassing $3.2B in added home wealth since 2014, nearly doubling in value
  • Homes at the lower end of the market in 2014, and neighborhoods with highest poverty, saw largest value increases 
 

New figures released by the University of Michigan Poverty Solutions show Detroit homeowners gained another $700 million in new home wealth in 2023, bringing total wealth gains to $4.6 billion over the past decade, Mayor Mike Duggan said today.   

The 2023 growth is on top of the $3.9B in home wealth that was revealed last year by UM in a report that spanned the nine years between 2014-2022.  Now looking at the entire decade of 2014-2023, the updated study, “The Growth of Housing Wealth in Detroit and its Neighborhoods: 2014-2023,” shows that Detroit homeowner occupants continue to see large annual gains in home value with no signs of slowing.   

Detroit’s Black homeowner occupants have been the biggest winners, realizing 75% of that wealth gain, which translates to $3.2 billion in added wealth since 2014. Since that time, the value of Black owned/occupied homes in Detroit has nearly doubled, increasing 94% from a total of $3.4 billion in 2014 to $6.6 billion in 2023.  

“In my first State of the City Address in 2014, I asked Detroiters thinking about moving out to give us some time to show we could work together to turn our city around,” said Mayor Duggan. “This study tells those who made the choice to stay that their patience and hard work have been rewarded and as a result are now building significant generational wealth.”  

This latest report was led by Jeffrey D. Morenoff, Professor and Associate Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan. Demographer and Founder of Data Driven Detroit, Kurt Metzger co-authored the report, along with Christina Shaw, Financial Analyst with the City of Detroit.   

The updated study incorporates data on warranty deed sales from the Wayne County Register of Deeds from 2014 to 2023.  

Detroit homeowners’ wealth gain 1

 

Both reports can be found on the UM Poverty Solutions website. Key takeaways from this year’s report include:  

  1. The estimated net value of owner-occupied homes in Detroit increased from $4.2 billion in 2014 to $8.8 billion in 2023, a $4.7 billion or 112% increase in housing-related wealth over the past 10 years. This figure exceeds the 94% growth in housing-related wealth between 2014 and 2022 that we estimated in our previous report.    
  1. Black homeowners continued to have the largest share of net housing wealth in the city, representing 75% of all housing wealth generated in 2023. The net housing value of Black homeowners grew from $3.4 billion in 2014 to $6.6 billion in 2023, a $3.2 billion or 94% increase in net housing wealth.    
  1. The increase in home sale values was largest in neighborhoods that had the lowest property values in 2014. In these neighborhoods, home values increased by an average of 276%, a growth rate that was 2.75 times larger than that of neighborhoods with the highest property values in 2014. 
  1. Median home values grew the most in neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates in 2014, where they increased by 264%, a growth rate that was more than 2.5 times higher than that of neighborhoods with the lowest poverty rates.  

“Neighborhoods with high concentrations of Hispanic/Latino populations, especially those in Southwest Detroit, experienced some of the largest increases in home values over the ten-year time period,” the report says. “The growth in home values was geographically dispersed in neighborhoods throughout the city rather than being concentrated in neighborhoods in the downtown and midtown areas.” 

Detroit homeowners’ wealth gain 2

 

In the Condon neighborhood, which saw one of the largest rises in value, the median home sale price in 2014 was about $7,500.  By 2023, the average home sale had soared to approximately $80,000 - an increase of 862%.  Other neighborhoods in the city, including Jefferson/Mack, Kettering, Springwells and Davison saw increases of 300% or more.  

“It’s such a blessing to have a home that increased so much in value, giving us a huge advantage in building generational wealth, without causing our property taxes to become unaffordable, thanks to the principal residence tax exemption.” said Mignon’ Padilla, a City of Detroit resident. 

The Mayor attributed the neighborhood rebound to committed residents who fought for their communities and did the hard work to keep them stable as the city worked to recover.  He also credited city employees for a series of neighborhood improvements that have contributed significantly to rising home values, including:  

  • Renovation of more than 180 city parks and recreation centers  
  • Removal of 25,000 dangerous vacant homes  
  • Renovation and re-occupancy of 12,000 salvageable vacant homes  
  • Sale of nearly 30,000 vacant side lots to adjacent homeowners  
  • Cleaning of 3,000 overgrown and trash-filled alleys  
  • Commercial blight removal and corridor cleanup  
  • New neighborhood streetscapes bringing back small businesses  
  • 180 new Motor City Match businesses open across the city  
  • Safer neighborhood streets thanks to installation of 10,000 speed humps  
  • Programs like Renew Detroit, 0% Interest Home Improvement Loan Program to address critical repairs and to help keep longtime Detroiters in their homes.
Detroit homeowners’ wealth gain 3

 

The study also cited the dramatic reduction in tax foreclosures in Detroit as a key factor in determining the net wealth gain.  Since 2016, the City and a coalition of partners has helped to reduce tax foreclosures by 96%, also helping to thousands more longtime Detroiters in possession of their homes. Those partners have included:  

  • The Rocket Community Fund  
  • Gilbert Family Foundation  
  • U-SNAP-BAC  
  • Eastside Community Network  
  • Bailey Park  
  • Hannan Center  
  • Central Detroit Christian  
  • Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance  
  • Bridging Communities  
  • MiWealth  
  • United Community Housing Coalition  
  • Wayne Metro  
  • Accounting Aid Society