First Person: The Average American Home Isn’t So Average in Metro Detroit

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average price of an American home was $248,000 in 2010. I decided to look around and see exactly what type of house $248,000 would buy for me in the Detroit metro area. It is true that the economic downturn has hit the Detroit metro area exceptionally hard. Housing values have followed the same downward trend as employment numbers in our economically depressed state. Both high unemployment and population loss have been contributing factors to the collapse in Michigan’s housing values. Michigan ranked among the top 10 states for home foreclosures in 2009, and things have not significantly improved since then. The high foreclosure rate has left the housing market over saturated with more homes for sale than people looking to buy property.

I decided to conduct my home search in West Bloomfield. West Bloomfield is one of the more affluent cities in Metro Detroit. I thought that it would give a more accurate assessment of the area than some of the other cities in the area. West Bloomfield is still a very desirable city to live in with great schools and safe upscale neighborhoods. The average single family home in West Bloomfield was $325,000 just five years ago according to Zillow real estate. Today Zillow says that the average house is below $200,000.

I went to Realtor.com to see what I could find for $248,000, and I found a property that looked like a great deal. It was about 2750 square feet, which is about the average U.S. home size according to the National Association of Home Builders. Since West Bloomfield is in an affluent neighborhood, I consider this home to be above average when compared to properties across the country. The lot size is small at .38 acres, but in real estate it is all about location. In order to take the neighborhood out of the equation I decided to expand my search out 20 miles to see if I could find an even better property.

After the twenty mile expansion, I found a house that was 3748 square feet on 2 acres of land. It included an enclosed pool/bar area and a huge pole barn that they were using as an equipment storage area. This is not an average American home. It is well above average. I think that it is safe to say that housing values in Metro Detroit are not in agreement with the U.S. Census Bureau’s data.


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