Mayor Mike Duggan was happy enough about the city's rising homeownership rate that he mentioned it in his State of the City address.
Poor housing stock still is a problem in Detroit. (File photo)
Today, John Gallagher at the Free Press offers a sobering additional detail:
White people make up just 10 percent of Detroit’s population but got nearly half of the home mortgage loans made in 2017 for which the race of the applicant was known.
That data point and several more show that the mortgage market in Detroit, while improving in recent years, remains anemic at best and, at worst, nonexistent in many parts of the city.
Most people can't buy homes without mortgage lending. But denials for a poor credit history or because a property is deemed not worth the amount being requested can be a vicious circle. Gallagher:
This lack of a robust mortgage market in Detroit creates a substantial drag on efforts to improve the financial life of residents. For generations, getting a mortgage has been a ticket to a middle-class life and a brighter future. The lack of mortgages for thousands of home buyers in Detroit each year holds back Detroit’s full recovery.
“There are large parts of the city — probably over half — that do not have a functioning real estate market,” said Alan Mallach, a New Jersey-based planner and author of the book “The Divided City,” who has worked frequently in Detroit.
It's an interesting data snapshot of where mortgages are being issued -- and not -- with some good analysis.
