Home purchase loans are a vital tool for achieving homeownership, a key component of advancing economic equity in Detroit. As Detroit’s housing market continues to rebound, these mortgages play a critical role in building wealth, and supporting efforts to attract, retain and grow the city’s Black middle class. Beyond individual benefits, home purchase mortgages and rising demand can have a positive ripple effect on neighborhoods, including directly influencing property values. Rising demand can also stimulate a cycle of growth and investments in neighborhoods, leading to improved local services and amenities within communities. These investments in turn can shape residents’ perceptions about the future of their neighborhood.

This brief provides an update to Detroit Future City’s 2022 report “Buying In: Opportunities for Increasing Homeownership in Detroit through Mortgage Lending”, which tracks recent trends in home purchase mortgage activity in Detroit over the last several years using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data. Monitoring trends in home purchase mortgages provides insights into both the progress of new mortgage activity and the many persistent challenges facing Detroit’s mortgage market, including access to and demand for lending, as well as disparities in lending by race and income.

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