Listed below are the Key points of the Downtown Detroit Residential Market Study prepared by Katherine Beebe & Associates for the Lower Woodward Housing Fund, an initiative created by Detroit Renaissance and funded by its member companies. A copy of the complete report may be downloaded by CLICKING HERE.

Key Points from the Detroit Renaissance/Lower Woodward Housing Fund Downtown Detroit Residential Market Study conducted by Katherine Beebe & Associates:

1. Counter-Trend Success: Despite challenging economic conditions in the city and the region, the greater downtown residential market (New Center, Midtown, Central Business District, East Riverfront, West Riverfront) is doing well. More than 2,400 residential units have been developed in the greater downtown since 2000. 1,400 of those units have been developed in the last three years. Generally, these units are purchased or rented as they are developed. Several developers reported that, with the chance to do the project over again, they would not change their approach because the project performed well.

2. Several Districts, One Market: The districts studied (New Center, Midtown, Central Business District, East Riverfront, West Riverfront) function together as a residential market. People move to these areas, and move around within them, because they value a diverse, downtown urban environment.

3. Developer Diversity: There is a broad range of developer types active in the greater downtown. Recent residential projects include developers who are based in suburban Detroit, entrepreneurial residents building multiple projects and creating a new market in their own neighborhoods, and firms based out-of-state. The capacity of these developers ranges from a single project to thousands of units per year.

4. Project Types: Most projects are based on adaptive reuse of formerly vacant commercial and industrial buildings into new residential units. Other project types recently developed include the conversion of existing rental residential buildings to condominiums and newly constructed townhouses.

5. Resident Profile: The results of a survey of new downtown residents describe a group that is young (57% of respondents were between 25-34), highly educated (83% had at least a bachelor's degree), and relatively wealthy (72% of new residents in the survey had an annual household income of at least $50,000 per year). Despite this influx of new wealth, the 2005 median income of all downtown residents ($19,800) still lags well behind the tri-county metropolitan Detroit area ($54,700).

Survey respondents work in the downtown (35%) or 'reverse-commute' to the suburbs (35%). They are mostly single people and couples without children (42% living alone, 33% couples without children). Only 6% of respondents have children.

About two-thirds of respondents who moved into downtown moved from suburban Detroit and beyond. About one-third moved from elsewhere the City of Detroit.

When asked what factors influenced their decision to move to their current home, respondents reported that the following were 'extremely' or 'very' important:

• Diversity of people in the neighborhood
• Proximity to school or employment
• Convenience to dining and entertainment
• Proximity to art and culture
• Neighborhood Enterprise Zone and other financial incentives

When given a chance to provide an opened response about what they liked best about living downtown, respondents indicated that they most value: city living and the urban environment, proximity to their place of employment, proximity to entertainment, and the culture and diversity of downtown Detroit.

6. Future Projections: This study demonstrates that there is market demand for an additional 1,700 market-rate residential units in the next five years in the Central Business District alone. However, the challenge is making supply available at that pace.

7. Public-Private Partnerships are Working: This study demonstrates that efforts and incentives (including but not limited to historic rehabilitation tax credits, Neighborhood Enterprise Zone tax abatements, various Detroit Downtown Development Authority programs, and the Detroit Renaissance Lower Woodward Housing Fund) are together attracting investors to greater downtown Detroit. The market, which in this area has recently had limited options for living in an urban environment, is responding.