Detroit Multifamily Report – August 2025
Asking rents in Motor City are rising at more than three times the national pace.
As of June, average advertised asking rents inched up 0.2 percent on a trailing three-month basis at the national level. However, Detroit recorded a 0.4 percent increase. Year-over-year, the gap was even wider, with the U.S. average up 0.9 percent, while the metro’s advertised asking rents climbed 2.9 percent. Overall occupancy in stabilized assets was 94.8 percent as of May, 20 basis points above the national average.
Detroit unemployment was 4.5 percent as of June, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figure was 40 basis points higher than the U.S. average. The metro’s total employment expanded 0.5 percent as of April, adding 12,600 net jobs. The $6.4 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor in Canada and Detroit reached a construction milestone ahead of its anticipated completion in the fall. Structural work is nearing completion on the bridge, which will be the first new U.S.-Canada border crossing in decades. Construction on another infrastructure project, the $300 million I-375 Reconnecting Communities Project, is expected to kick off in the fall.
Year-to-date through June, developers added 1,200 units to Detroit’s stock. The metro’s pipeline included some 3,100 units under construction, as well as 28,000 units in the planning and permitting stages. Investment volume dropped, as only $41 million traded in the first half of 2025, a substantial decline from the $145 million recorded during the same period of 2024.
