The Average Home Price in Detroit Falls to $13,638

According to the Michigan Association of Realtors (data here), the average sales price of a Detroit home fell to $13,638 in January, a -42.6% decline from the $23,755 average home price in January 2008, and a -25% decline from last year's average price of $18,128. Unit sales increased in Detroit by +37% in January 2009 to 1,007 homes, compared to 736 home sold last January.

At the state level, the average home sales price fell by -37% in January to $84,832, compared to last January's average price of $134,721.

Comments

[drbob66:]

Truly amazing...and SAD at the same time.

Mar 21 03:12 PM

[mallarde:]

It might be fair to consider that the city limits of Detroit exclude -- I believe -- virtually all of the leafy suburbs where the rich and middle class live. Detroit proper might be almost all ghetto-land. Just saying...

Mar 21 07:19 PM

[Mad Hedge F...:]

The median home price in the San Francisco Bay Area has fallen to $295,000, a ten year low. This is down 56% from the $665,000 peak seen in July, 2007 (it seems like only yesterday). Sales are up 25% YOY, fueled by a tidal wave of foreclosures and cheap FHA financing. If prices fall further this place might even become affordable. Too bad you can’t live off of the sunshine here.

Mar 21 08:34 PM

[a. palmer jr.:]

Yeah, I was just wondering what the average house in Detroit looks like, for $13000.

Mar 22 09:09 AM

[billp37:]

"But from what we read, Detroit sounds like it has become a kind of Port-au-Prince with snowdrifts. The whole city sounds like a hellhole without the warm fires.
..."

www.dailyreckoning.com.../

Mar 22 09:17 AM

[wind4me:]

maybe its TIME to convert downtown auto Detroit into producing wind turbines??? looks like the real estate is cheap enough!

Mar 22 01:07 PM

[lc_william:]

San Fran houses on avg under $300K? No chance. Go to realtor.com and check on single family homes -- for all of San Francisco there are only 13 single family homes available at less than $300K. How many total homes are for sale in SF? 784... 13/784 = <2%, not the average. If ever there is a ghetto area in SF, my guess would be all 13 are in scary areas of SF. The misleading piece of info whenever anyone talks about "the avg price" of homes in a particular area is the fact that these statistics count in the massive oversupply of condos (also known as crappy apartments with terrible, permanent neighbors) as being "homes."

Always remember to filter out info that sounds too good to be true. Still today in 2009, SF single family home average price =~$600-$800K; now if you factor in horrible condos in areas you would never want to live in, with less sq footage than your average Suburban, then yes you can get the SF area price to just under $300K. Just remember this before you run to the coasts to get your dream home (and fill the pockets of the local Realtor).

It's going to be at least 2-3 years more of downward prices before we normalize. Good luck and godspeed!

Mar 22 01:15 PM

[cynewulf:]

If unionism has brought Detroit to it's knees, then what will happen to the rest of the country when Barrak Obama brings in the open cry ballot system for union certifacation ? Extortion could destroy this country's entrepeneurial will. When your house is worth thirteen thousand dollars and your property tax is still high and the widgets are all being made offshore and the teachers are making two hundred dollars an hour (with benefits), then,; are you going to want to reshingle your roof? Why bother? Live free or ___.

Mar 22 04:53 PM

[Northstar10000:]

A perfect example of what liberals can do to a city and state and what is coming to the whole country without some serious checks on Fed power. Would you liberals care to rescue your fellow dumbocrats and go live in Detroit. It is your kid of paradise as per government, taxes rules regulations and social safety nets. Go for it goofs and leave the rest of the country alone. You have the entire state. You broke it you dix it !!!!!

Mar 22 05:00 PM

[henarl:]

Yeah but 13K is still too much for Detriot crackheads to pay so they just move in without buying and everyone else has already left Motown. That should bring the average down to about $5 in a couple more years. Bulldozers anyone?

Mar 22 06:14 PM

[Gedankonomist:]

Here's what Detroit should do to stop "urban flight:"

Put up a big wall to keep the people in, together with some watch towers and barbed wire. It worked for East Germany, why not Detroit? Besides, the governments of the two aren't much different; it shouldn't be too hard to for them to manage it. They could also hire Haliburton to make the wall and Blackwater could man the towers.

Mar 22 08:06 PM

[Jade Queen:]

What the labor law will likely do is to break some more big companies. Sometimes this leaves markets hanging in the wind. There are still customers, but there isn't product for them to buy. Sometimes, employees can get together and keep the business going to serve the customers. Sometimes the unemployed people have to start their own businesses. Look at what is going on with labor over this law: turf wars in anticipation of more moola in the dues business. The general press is so uncomfortable talking about this stuff, that it really doesn't get talked about before the law gets passed. Consequently, the rosy scenario painted by the panderers does not happen according to their plan. They haven't dealt with the clique issues, the turf wars, the bullying, or the cost of it all. They've passed a law with a nice-sounding name that they can talk about the next time they run for office. They are patently unwilling to speak truth to their constituents. In the larger picture, perhaps this is the only way to bust big organizations down in size. At some point, maybe we'll get a thorough auditing of law to remove junk that does the opposite of what it says. Let a thousand auditors bloom, I say.

Mar 22 09:37 PM

[Paul Killinger:]

Tax and spend!

Can we tax and spend our way to becoming a great nation once again? Not so far.

Lest we forget, this place (Detroit included) was built on the idea of hard work, saving and doing without.

Schumpeter was right. Profit IS a penalty.

Mar 23 09:06 AM

[Jsmith:]

Thanks for sharing the valuable information. In 2008 nearly 56,000 bank repossessions were reported in Michigan, according to statistics reported by a foreclosure tracking website.

Jun 02 03:43 AM