More million-dollar condos are selling in metro Detroit. Here's why.
City Living Detroit
This condo loft at Willys Overland Lofts, 444 W Willis St., recently sold for $850,000.
The jump in sales of high-priced homes also affected the condo market, where at least eight Detroit units sold for more than $1 million.
That's by far the highest number in recent years, and comes as more condos have been selling in the city, and for more money.
The 373 total condo sales in 2021 are nearly 20 percent higher than the 313 that sold in 2020, according to data from Berkshire Hathaway Home Services The Loft Warehouse. And for million-dollar sales, 2021 saw four times as many as the year before, according to data from the multiple listing service Realcomp. In fact, between 2016 and 2020, only 10 condos were sold in the city for more than $1 million, according to Realcomp data.
This year, the most expensive was the $1.56 million two-bedroom, one-bath unit on the fifth floor of the downtown Hartz building. The 1929 building at 1529 Broadway St., above the Detroit Beer Co., has just three units.
As some condos struggle to find buyers with the coronavirus pandemic continuing to keep some workers out of downtown offices, larger, higher-end units are continuing to be in high demand, said Austin Black II, the broker/president of City Living Detroit.
"In many different ways, this pandemic has gotten people to think about life differently," Black said. "Now is the time to do it."
Child-free adults or empty nesters who want to live in a maintenance-free urban environment are leading the charge on the luxury end, Black said. Contrarily, Sabra Sanzotta, owner and broker with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services The Loft Warehouse, said first-time home buyers looking between $300,000 and $500,000 have driven the bulk of the growth. There were 36 more sales in that range this year, a 49 percent increase.
For condos in the $700,0000-plus range, 21 sold in 2021 compared to just seven the year before.
"People are not going to be buying something that doesn't meet price or value," Sanzotta said. "It has to have the right features, the right location, the right price."
The condo market was oversaturated last year, but the supply has dwindled as units have been bought up or converted to apartments. Sanzotta said she expects there to be a condo crunch next year as units that are beginning construction aren't online until 2023. In many of those second-phase buildings, she said, presales are going "like wildfire." Sanzotta said she is seeing some remote workers who have roots in Detroit come back to the city, choosing to work in Detroit because they want the culture of the big city, but the relatively low cost of living that they can't get in New York or Chicago.
With more activity in the city, Black said, more people who were thinking about condo life in the past are more likely to jump on opportunities when they see them.
"If the right product hits the market, there is a sense of urgency," he said. "Last year was a really rough year for condos. Sales are easier this year than last year. People who have decided they want to live in a condo are more comfortable to make that decision."
Home listings are up in Detroit as landlords decide to sell