Do Detroit's suburbs suffer from Detroit's reputation?

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Wolverine607

Interesting that population is down in Royal Oak, yet I hear all of how people want to be there and home prices are record highs there. I mean what is driving these record high home prices if population is way down there compared to peak baby boomer years?

1. Married couples having less children than in the baby boomer era (That is why that era was called BABY BOOM)

2. DINKs (Double Income No Kids)

[DTWflyer]

Royal Oak, like most of the inner-ring suburbs reached their peak population numbers in the early 1970s.
They have been essentially built-out without any virgin large tracts of developable land since that time, and since then its been either tear-down/reconstruction, infill development, or a few excess surplus school district parcels, or repurposed industrial properties that have fostered any new residential developments in the past decades.

The inner-ring suburbs were all the Post WWII boom towns, that saw all the young families and children born during the baby boom era from late 40s through late 60s.

Even the ones that are hot these days have all had a lot of restructuring and consolidation in their school districts as their school building infrastructure was sized for the peak baby boom years and the number of school aged children is down significantly since the peak in the 60s & 70s.

Royal Oak, Ferndale, Southfield, Farmington Hills, even Birmingham & Bloomfield Hills have all closed and/or consolidated numerous school buildings over the past 25 years.

When I lived in Royal Oak, one of my neighbors in their early 90s, was still one of the original residents on the street. They used to say "there used to be hundreds of kids on the block." When I was there I think there was about 2 elementary school kids and 2 high school kids on our block.

Royal Oak peaked in the 70s with about 86K population, its now around 60K.

[DTWflyer]

Record home prices in Royal Oak are because of two things:

1) Relatively high-quality "starter homes" in a highly desirable area; driving the prices much higher than the rest of Metro Detroit for well-maintained, updated, and renovated 1,000 - 1,800 sq 3/4 bedroom bunglows. You can find the same houses in Madison Heights or Livonia for $50-$100k less

2) Tear-down/rebuilds that have torn down smaller bungalows and slab houses that were 800-1000 sq ft with new-builds from 2,500-4,000 sq ft. People priced out of Birmingham are now looking toward Royal Oak.

[NOLA101]

Royal Oak is very central, walkable, and quasi-urban (for MI standards). I do agree it's slightly overpriced, as downtown is kinda meh, the housing stock is not that great outside of Vinsetta Blvd. area, and schools are simply decent. But people will pay for location/convenience. And, as mentioned, it's getting Birmingham overflow, and actually cheap compared to Birmingham.

Long-term, I think the Woodward Corridor will keep its values, but, yeah, is generally a bit overpriced and bubble-ish.

[exit18b]

East Coast guy, moved to MI, but now live in DFW. Moving back to Metro Detroit. I tell people I am moving to MICHIGAN and not Detroit and they actually look sad for me. They say, "near Detroit" and I say yes. The comments are never good. A metro area must a have a vibrant center city, period.

[mgkeith]

We were excited to move here, because we were familiar with the metro area. There are so many wonderful places to live! Detroit itself has made huge improvements since we moved here.
People just don't know, since they have never been here or perhaps not in many years.

Most are clueless about Detroit and the metro area, as well as the beauty of Michigan.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by mgkeith

We were excited to move here, because we were familiar with the metro area. There are so many wonderful places to live! Detroit itself has made huge improvements since we moved here.
People just don't know, since they have never been here or perhaps not in many years.

Most are clueless about Detroit and the metro area, as well as the beauty of Michigan.

And we like it that way.

If too many people find out, it will become crowded, chains will take over everything, trees will disappear and waterways will be placed underground, traffic will worsen, Karens will multiply, sprawl will explode everywhere, bigfoot will move to Canada. . . . . it will become just like everywhere else. (Yawn).

[mgkeith]

True. The freeways are busy enough as it is.

[Coldjensens]

Downtown was really busy last night. No to sure why. Not packed, but too crowded for Covid times. Maybe people are just sick of it and everyone decided to get out for a Friday night.