Detroit, MI
Investigate Detroit selectively if you prioritize current income and can verify tenant demand locally; avoid it if your case depends on broad employment or population growth.
Why this market scores where it does
Written from the figures on this page and then checked against them: every number below had to appear in the source record or recompute from two that did, or the text was rewritten.
Investigate Detroit selectively if you prioritize current income and can verify tenant demand locally; avoid it if your case depends on broad employment or population growth. A $271,675 median value, $1,518 asking rent and 6.7% gross yield support an income-oriented screen.
The tension is that rents rose 3.21% while CES employment fell 0.66%, and tax filings show net migration of -7,816 households. Rent momentum is the opportunity; weaker labor and household-flow signals raise occupancy, turnover and resale risk.
Household burden appears manageable on the supplied measure, with rent equal to 23.76% of median income. Supply pressure looks limited at 1.73 permits per 1,000 residents, while the 0.0915% climate-loss ratio is low in absolute terms. Still, inland flood is the dominant hazard, so property-level exposure and insurance terms need review.
Frequently Asked Investor Questions
What is the basic income profile?
What do the demand indicators show?
What are the supply and physical-risk signals?
Investor Quick Takeaways
Computed from the current Zillow rent and home-value medians.
Zillow ZORI rent growth trend over trailing 12 months.
Originated investment purchase share (CFPB HMDA).
Annualized loss ratio evaluated for flood & hurricane risk.
Test the market, then test the deal
Keep Detroit as the starting point or move into a more specific property and rent check.
The current market in eight signals
Fast-moving Redfin conditions sit beside the slower fundamentals so a buyer can separate today's negotiating climate from the long-run investment case.
Rents versus prices, indexed to 2019
Both series start at 100. The gap between the lines is the investment case, and which line is closing it tells you what kind of market this is.
What each component measures
Weights are published, not hidden, and the arithmetic is shown. Five components, each measured as a national percentile across all tracked metros.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job growth | 22 | 30% | 6.60 |
| Rent trend | 48 | 25% | 12.00 |
| Affordability | 55 | 15% | 8.25 |
| Supply pressure | 72 | 15% | 10.80 |
| Climate risk | 91 | 15% | 13.65 |
| Published score | 51 | ||
CES employment fell 0.66% year over year -> underwrite tenant demand and exit liquidity cautiously.
Asking rent rose 3.21% and gross yield is 6.7% -> current income is the clearest opportunity.
Rent equals 23.76% of median income and price is 3.54 times income -> affordability offers some support for renter and buyer capacity.
Permitting is 1.73 units per 1,000 residents -> limited new supply reduces the immediate competition signal.
The climate-loss ratio is 0.0915%, but inland flood is the dominant hazard -> review parcel-level water exposure rather than relying on the metro average.
What this market costs and what it earns
Every derived ratio below recomputes from the same source record used by the article and score.
What is being built, and for whom
Permits are the 12-to-24 month early warning. The total matters less than the mix: apartments compete with a rental the day they open.
Demand, and the competition for it
Tax filings say how many households moved and what they earn; mortgage disclosures say how many local purchases went to someone who will not live there. Moves between counties inside this metro are netted out of both flow figures.
What would make this a bad buy
Generated from the same figures with the instruction to argue against the score, and published unedited. A page that only agrees with itself is an advertisement.
Three ways the case breaks
- CES employment declined 0.66% year over year, weakening the labor-demand signal.
- Tax filings show net migration of -7,816 households, while outgoing movers had $82,981 average income versus $70,326 for incoming movers.
- Inland flood is the dominant hazard, and parcel-level exposure and insurance costs are not published.
Move from the metro average to local evidence
County pages carry tax, migration, listing and hazard records. City pages appear only where direct city price, rent and Census evidence pass the publication gate.
Metros that behave like Detroit
Nearest neighbours on price level, income, yield and job growth — not on geography. Every market page gets a different peer set, which is the point.
| Metro | Score | Price | Rent | Yield | Job Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit, MI (Target) | 51 | $272k | $1,518 | 6.7% | ▼ 0.7% |
| St. Louis, MO | 50 | $280k | $1,459 | 6.3% | ▼ 0.5% |
| Tampa, FL | 26 | $361k | $2,020 | 6.7% | ▲ 0.1% |
| San Antonio, TX | 34 | $280k | $1,416 | 6.1% | ▲ 0.1% |
| Indianapolis, IN | 45 | $297k | $1,558 | 6.3% | ▼ 0.4% |
Where every figure came from
“Checked nightly” means every source is re-pulled and re-verified each night. It does not mean every source moves nightly — the release column tells you how fresh each number can possibly be.
| Dataset Source | Method | Release Period | Pulled Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS 5-year — household income | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — population | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS CES — payroll employment | direct | CES SM current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS LAUS — resident employment | direct | LAUS current | 2026-07-26 |
| BLS QCEW — county employment and wages | direct | annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 | 2026-07-31 |
| OMB/BLS delineation — metro geography | direct | OMB July 2023 delineation | 2026-07-30 |
| Census Building Permits Survey — permitted units | direct | BPS through 2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housing | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-29 |
| Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-30 |
| FEMA National Risk Index — hazard loss ratios | modelled | NRI counties (FEMA ArcGIS) | 2026-07-26 |
| FHFA House Price Index — annual county appreciation | direct | annual county HPI 2025 | 2026-07-28 |
| HMDA / CFPB — purchases by occupancy type | direct | HMDA 2024 purchase originations | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD Fair Market Rents — Section 8 standard | direct | FY2026 FMR | 2026-07-26 |
| HUD USPS crosswalk and Small Area FMRs — ZIP rent fallback | direct | ZIP-CBSA 2025Q4 + SAFMR FY2026 | 2026-07-26 |
| IRS SOI — county migration and mover income | direct | SOI migration 2022-2023 | 2026-07-26 |
| Freddie Mac PMMS — mortgage rates | direct | week of 2026-07-23 | 2026-07-27 |
| Census ACS 5-year — effective property tax | direct | ACS 2024 5-year | 2026-07-27 |
| Realtor.com Economic Research — county listing inventory | direct | county inventory 2026-06 | 2026-07-28 |
| Redfin Data Center — inventory, days on market, and price cuts | direct | metro tracker through 2026-05-01 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI and ZORI — county values and rents | direct | county ZHVI/ZORI 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — metro home values | direct | Metro_zhvi_uc_sfrcondo_tier_0.33_0.67_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZHVI — city home values | direct | zillow_zhvi_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — metro market rents | direct | Metro_zori_uc_sfrcondomfr_sm_sa_month.csv | 2026-07-26 |
| Zillow ZORI — city market rents | direct | zillow_zori_city.csv | 2026-07-29 |
| Zillow ZORI — ZIP market rents | direct | ZORI ZIP 2026-06 | 2026-07-26 |