Detroit’s housing market combines low recorded home values with substantial affordability pressure, an aging housing stock, and recent differences between listing and sale indicators. The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts reports a median owner-occupied housing value of $83,900 for 2020–2024, while Realtor.com reported a $99,900 median listing price in April 2026 and Redfin reported a $104,000 median sale price in March 2026. These figures cover different periods and measures, so they should not be treated as a single price series.
Contents
- Detroit population and housing context
- Home values, rents, and ownership
- Affordability and housing need
- Age, condition, and housing supply
- Construction, rehabilitation, and demolition
- Property taxes and assessments
- Recent market activity
Detroit population and housing context
Detroit had 639,111 residents at the 2020 Census, according to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts. The population estimate was 639,471 on July 1, 2024, representing a 1.0% increase from the April 1, 2020 base to that estimate. The city covered 138.73 square miles of land in 2020 and had 4,606.8 people per square mile.
QuickFacts counted 257,998 households in 2020–2024, with an average of 2.43 people per household. The same period shows that 88.4% of residents age 1 and older had lived in the same house one year earlier. That mobility measure provides context for interpreting sales activity: most residents had not changed homes during the measured year, even though the market also contained active listings and rental properties.
Detroit’s age profile included 6.7% of residents under age 5, 24.8% under age 18, and 15.1% age 65 or older. The city was 52.6% female, 75.3% Black alone, 11.6% White alone, and 8.3% Hispanic or Latino. Foreign-born residents represented 6.6% of the population in 2020–2024.
Economic measures are important to housing analysis. Median household income was $39,938 in 2020–2024 dollars, while per capita income was $24,594. The poverty rate was 32.7%. The civilian labor-force participation rate for residents age 16 and older was 54.1%, and 52.3% of women in that labor force were female. Detroit’s mean travel time to work was 24.8 minutes.
Home values, rents, and ownership
The U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts median value of owner-occupied housing units was $83,900 in 2020–2024. The owner-occupied housing unit rate was 50.3%, indicating that roughly half of occupied housing units were owner-occupied during that period. Median monthly owner costs were $1,238 for owners with a mortgage and $525 for owners without a mortgage. Median gross rent was $1,074.
The City of Detroit’s PRO Housing Grant Application 2024 cited a citywide owner-occupied housing value of $86,400. The City of Detroit NRSA Application 2025–2029 reported a $52,700 median home value in 2020 and $850 median gross rent per month for that same year. These older figures are not interchangeable with the QuickFacts 2020–2024 measures; their different dates help explain why reported medians vary.
Recent market snapshots show another set of measurements:
| Measure | Reported figure | Period and source |
|---|---|---|
| Median listing price | $99,900 | April 2026, Realtor.com |
| Median sold price | $95,000 | April 2026, Realtor.com |
| Median price per square foot | $89 | April 2026, Realtor.com |
| Median sale price | $104,000 | March 2026, Redfin |
| Median rent | $1,100/month | April 2026, Realtor.com |
Realtor.com listed 4,702 active listings and 1,670 rental properties in April 2026. Its median days on market was 59 days, and its hotness-index description classified Detroit as a cool market with a 59-day median sell time. Realtor.com’s year-over-year figures included a 13.86% increase in active listings, an 11.32% increase in median days on market, and a 49.45% increase in rental properties. Its median sale price change was down 1.09% year over year, while the median sold price change was up 5.56%.
Affordability and housing need
The City of Detroit PRO Housing Grant Application 2024 reported that 59% of Detroit households paid more than 30% of income for housing, and 21% paid more than 50%. The burden was higher among renters: 81% of renter households paid more than 30% of income for housing, while 30% paid more than 50%.
The same application reported a 4.5% annual rent-growth rate from 2019 to 2021, compared with 1.1% annual rent growth from 2010 to 2019. It estimated an affordable-housing gap of 66,100 units for households at 30% of area median income and a 3,400-unit gap for households at 50% of area median income. Detroit had produced or preserved 4,646 affordable housing units since 2018, according to that application.
Housing availability also shifted by affordability level. From 2016 to 2021, Detroit lost 32,800 rental units affordable at or below 50% of area median income and added 16,500 rental units affordable at or above 80% of area median income. The application said 16,300 affordable units were lost to structural obsolescence during that period. Total housing units declined 5% from 2019 to 2021.
Utility and repair costs add to the affordability picture. The application reported that 50% of Detroit residents spent more than 10% of income on utility bills. Among occupied single-family homes for households under 80% of area median income, 32% likely required roof rehabilitation, 53% likely required plumbing repairs, 51% likely required heating repairs, and 48% likely required electrical repairs. The median repair cost was $34,600, excluding lead abatement. An estimated 116,000 single-family households under 80% of area median income required rehabilitation each year.
Age, condition, and housing supply
Detroit’s housing stock is notably old. The City of Detroit PRO Housing Grant Application 2024 reported that 91% of housing units were built before 1980 and 36% were built in 1939 or earlier. The City of Detroit NRSA Application 2025–2029 gave a related year-built distribution: 56% of the housing stock was built in 1939 or earlier, 30% from 1940 to 1969, 8% from 1970 to 1989, 5% from 1990 to 2009, and 1% in 2010 or later.
The two sources use different tabulations and periods, so the percentages should be read as source-specific descriptions rather than combined into one estimate. Together, they show that older construction is a central feature of Detroit real estate, with a small share of homes built recently.
The PRO Housing application reported that 90% of Detroit rental properties were not in compliance with rental-property code. Small multifamily structures had a 2% compliance rate, compared with 10% citywide. Over the last 60 years, the city saw a 73% decline in two-family structures and a 69% decline in three- and four-unit structures.
Vacancy changed in one NRSA measure: vacant-other units fell 13%, from 78,501 to 68,685, between 2015 and 2020. The NRSA application also reported that 89% of working residents had access to at least one personal vehicle, while 11% had no personal vehicle access. For commuting, 69% of working residents over age 16 drove alone, 13% carpooled, and 7% relied on public transit. Sixty-eight percent of Detroit’s workforce commuted to jobs outside the city.
Construction, rehabilitation, and demolition
Between January 2020 and April 2025, the City of Detroit issued 606 building permits for new construction, according to the City of Detroit NRSA Application 2025–2029. It issued 27,151 permits for alterations and residential rehabilitations and 7,218 demolition permits during the same period. The application characterized the relationship as nearly 12 demolition permits for every new-construction permit.
The City of Detroit PRO Housing Grant Application 2024 reported that an average of 60 single-family repair permits were issued annually. That figure is a permit measure, not a count of all repairs or all homes needing work. The difference between the estimated annual rehabilitation need and the average repair-permit count indicates why repair capacity is a significant part of the city’s housing discussion, although the supplied figures do not establish that every needed repair would require a permit.
Property taxes and assessments
The City of Detroit’s 2025 assessment notice states that State Equalized Value must approximate 50% of market value. Its 2025 tentative tax notice says taxable value rises by 1.031 when there was no 2024 transfer of ownership. The City of Detroit Property Taxes FAQ lists a current State Education Tax rate of 6 mills and says the homestead Principal Residence Exemption removes 18 mills from part of the bill.
The same FAQ gives a simple tax example: a 35-mill tax rate applied to a $20,000 taxable value yields $700 in tax. This is an illustration of millage arithmetic, not a citywide average bill. The FAQ also showed 76 mills in summer levy totals in its example.
Detroit’s property-tax season runs from July 1 to February 28. The City of Detroit General Property Tax Bill Information 2025 says summer bills are mailed in early July, with installment payments due August 15 and January 15; the full summer bill is due August 31. Winter bills are mailed in early December and are due January 15. Delinquent real-property taxes transfer to the Wayne County Treasurer beginning March 1. The listed Wayne County Treasurer office is at 400 Monroe, 5th Floor, Detroit, Michigan 48226-2942, with phone number (313) 224-5990. The Detroit Taxpayer Service Center phone number is 313.224.3560.
Wayne County’s 2025 assessments release reported a 7.64% Detroit SEV increase. Countywide assessed property value surpassed $86.3 billion in 2025, more than $6.1 billion above 2021. A Wayne County property-values rebound article reported that county property values rose nearly 24% since 2015 and that Wayne County collected more than $405 million in property-tax revenue in 2007.
The City of Detroit Land Value Tax Plan FAQs described a proposed comparison in which the average vacant residential lot’s tax would rise from $30 to $67, while the average Detroit homeowner would receive a 17% permanent property-tax cut in 2025. The FAQ said 97% of Detroit homeowners would receive a tax cut, operating millage would fall from 20 mills to 6 mills, and total homeowner millage would fall from 67 mills to 53 mills. Land millage on vacant land would rise from 85 mills to approximately 189 mills, and the average land-tax increase on surface parking lots and scrapyards would be about 50%. Existing NEZ holders could keep their NEZ for up to 15 years after the plan.
Recent market activity
Redfin’s Detroit housing-market report said homes sold in 63 days on average in March 2026. It reported 430 homes sold, a median sale price of $104,000, and home prices up 15.6% year over year. The number of homes sold fell 19.9% year over year. Redfin also reported an average of two offers, a current competitiveness view of about 56 days to sell, and homes selling for about 5% below list price on average.
Realtor.com reported that Detroit rent prices changed 0.46% month over month in its quick insights. Its April 2026 market summary reported a $1,100 median rent and a 12% year-over-year decline in median rent. The combination of a $99,900 median listing price, $95,000 median sold price, 4,702 active listings, and 59 median days on market describes a market snapshot rather than a forecast.
For readers comparing these sources, the key distinctions are measurement date, geography, and metric. Census and city applications describe population, housing stock, costs, taxes, and longer-term conditions. Realtor.com emphasizes listings and market inventory, while Redfin reports closed-sale activity and competitiveness. Keeping those differences visible is essential when evaluating Detroit real estate statistics.