While the real estate market was booming in Detroit prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the comeback has been somewhat slower post-pandemic.

This is largely due to the reliance on the downtown and Midtown development’s reliance on a singular force: Quicken/Rocket employees. As the return-to-work process has been adopting a more hybrid approach and has been slower than anticipated, the rebound of Detroit retail and restaurants has been slower than expected.

There are a couple of other issues in Detroit that have hindered the growth of the real estate markets in Detroit.

First, the Ilitch development of District Detroit has been, to be charitable, lacking. This has had the impact of stalling some development as developers wait to see what, if anything the Ilitch organizations will develop.

Second (and this applies to the residential market much more than the commercial market), the incidence of title fraud is still more than occasional (albeit perhaps not as rampant as it was previously). Until there is some solution to this issue, the residential markets will be hindered. As an observer of the title fraud, it appears some factors feeding the prevalence of title fraud include out-of-state investors who are not “on the ground,” as well as the much higher percentage of non-owner-occupied properties.

Perhaps technology can help solve the title fraud problem. Although few truly understand the benefits of it, the adoption of a blockchain approach to deed recording could slow down title fraud.