A Look at the Data: Housing Types and Home Ownership Rates Across Oakland County pt 2: Populations of 10,000 to 19,999
(Kurt Metzger, July 20, 2022)
Oakland County, MI – Housing is an essential element of community development. It impacts residents and governments, property values, local revenues, public services, and community stability.
According to a SEMCOG study, produced back in 2012, “A region’s housing market is one of the main indicators of economic stability and, therefore, the condition, quality, and availability of diverse housing types create stronger markets and desirable communities. Housing is the single largest land use, comprising 45 percent of the land in Southeast Michigan’s seven counties. Since the vast majority of this housing is immobile (fixed in a specific geographic location), durable (most of our housing stock, when maintained at a decent level, can last 100 years or more), and expensive (by and large the greatest expense for a family), it must be a community and a region’s priority to ensure that this housing stock is well maintained, as well as located and constructed to meet the needs of its residents.”
An examination of housing types, by community, in Oakland County illustrates the wide range of structure types available, while a look at tenure (owner vs renter occupancy) illustrates the concept of housing “permanence” (owner) vs. “transiency” (renter).
I have chosen to look at the share of “single family, detached” (the typical single-family residence) housing units in each community. The first article looked at communities with populations greater than 50,000 population, and communities between 20,000 and 49,999 population. This article examines housing in communities with populations between 10,000 and 19,999. The final article will look at the 26 communities with populations less than 10,000.
Fourteen Oakland County communities – 8 cities, 5 townships and one village – have populations between 10,000 and 19,999 as of July 1, 2021. (Figure 1) They range in population from a low of 10,521 in Beverly Hills village to a high of 19,110 in Highland township. Two communities – Beverly Hills and Berkley – have shares of single-family housing exceeding 90 percent – 93.7 and 90.8 percent, respectively. On the low end are Wixom (39.8 percent) and Rochester (52.1 percent). Home ownership rates, which usually track well with single-family housing, range from a low of 49.1 percent in Wixom to a high of 95.0 percent in Brandon township.
The close relationship between structure type and home ownership rate is broken in a number of these communities. On one end we have South Lyon, Rochester and Milford township with ownership rates exceeding single-family rates by 24.9, 14.2 and 13.4 percent, respectively. South Lyon’s large gap is best explained by a significant number of “one-unit attached” structures (condos) and mobile homes. Milford township has a similar mix, with an even larger number of mobile homes, while Rochester is due entirely to condos.
On the other end is Hazel Park, where the ownership rate trails the single-family rate by 31.1 percent (55.3 vs. 86.4 percent)! This relationship is found in low-income communities where foreclosures have driven down prices. Hazel Park has been a target for ‘investors’ who have bought up large numbers of homes in recent years and turned them into rentals. With housing prices increasing of late, it appears that more purchases are being made, such that we can expect to see ownership rates begin to rise this decade. While the discrepancy is half as large in Ferndale – 15.1 percent (65.8 vs. 80.8 percent) – it appears to be driven by the fact that single-family homes can command rental rates high enough to make absentee owners happy to rent rather than sell.
Our previous article looked at communities with populations between 20,000 and 49,999, and those over 50,000. Find that here.
