Like Mickey , I was struck by this fact : The median sales price of a house in Detroit is $7,500.
That figure comes from December. For the three months that ended in January, according to
Trulia
, the median sales price was $10,000. Slightly higher, but still shocking. The average listing price for a house in Detroit, according to Trulia, was $77,426 for the week ending Feb. 25. (All of these figures are for the city only.)
These two figures leave us with at least two possibilities. Either homebuyers are getting discounts of about 83 percent in Detroit, which seems unlikely, or the only houses selling are the ones that are very, very cheap. Trulia currently lists 399 houses for sale for less than $15,000 in Detroit. Which got me thinking: How many houses for that price in Washington? Exactly three .* The average listing price for Washington is $753, 241, while the median sales price is $349,865.
Two more numbers — the last two, I promise! Detroit’s median household income ( from a 2003 Census survey ): $26,157. Washington’s: $42,118.
I still believe real estate prices are too high in Washington. But that doesn’t mean I wish for D.C. what’s happening to Detroit.
*As several readers have pointed out, these properties are for rent, not for sale. So it appears there are no houses for sale for less than $15,000 in Washington.
