Rents Rebound Favorably
Despite the vulnerability displayed in recent decades, Detroit’s multifamily market has not succumbed to the current downturn. Rents in the metro rose a substantial 0.7% on a trailing three-month basis through October to $1,050, with Lifestyle rents posting a remarkable rebound after six consecutive months of negative performance that ended in March.
Employment took a serious hit, declining 14.9% in the 12 months ending in September, trailing the -9.3% national average. The unemployment rate slid to 12.8% in August from the 26.5% all-time high registered in May, with the preliminary September figure clocking in at 12.5%. As expected, because of the state’s automotive industry concentration, manufacturing was among the worst-hit sectors, contracting by 9.8% in the 12 months ending in September. Even though Detroit has lost a large chunk of its workforce since the onset of the pandemic, the metro is better positioned to weather the immediate fallout of the current crisis than it was in past downturns.
Developers delivered only 547 units through October and had another 5,732 under construction. Meanwhile, $194 million in multifamily assets traded during the first 10 months of the year, with
one transaction recorded in April accounting for nearly half of that.
Read the full Matrix Multifamily Detroit Report-Fall 2020
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