274 Apartments under $800 for rent in Detroit, MI
December 2019 Detroit Rent Report
Welcome to the December 2019 Detroit Rent Report. Detroit rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Detroit rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
December 2019 Detroit Rent Report
Welcome to the December 2019 Detroit Rent Report. Detroit rents increased over the past month. In this report, we'll evaluate trends in the Detroit rental market, including comparisons to cities throughout the metro, state, and nation.
Detroit rents increased slightly over the past month
Detroit rents have increased 0.2% over the past month, but have remained steady at 0.1% in comparison to the same time last year. Currently, median rents in Detroit stand at $688 for a one-bedroom apartment and $896 for a two-bedroom. This is the second straight month that the city has seen rent increases after a decline in September. Detroit's year-over-year rent growth lags the state average of 0.9%, as well as the national average of 1.4%.
Rents rising across the Detroit Metro
While rents have remained steady in the city of Detroit throughout the past year, cities across the metro have seen a different trend. Rents have risen in 9 of of the largest 10 cities in the Detroit metro for which we have data. Here's a look at how rents compare across some of the largest cities in the metro.
- Southfield has seen the fastest rent growth in the metro, with a year-over-year increase of 1.7%. The median two-bedroom there costs $1,197, while one-bedrooms go for $920.
- Over the past year, St. Clair Shores is the only city in the metro that has seen rents fall, with a decline of 0.1%. Median two-bedrooms there cost $978, while one-bedrooms go for $751.
- Taylor has the least expensive rents in the Detroit metro, with a two-bedroom median of $894; rents increased 0.8% over the past month and 0.8% over the past year.
- Dearborn has the most expensive rents of the largest cities in the Detroit metro, with a two-bedroom median of $1,359; rents rose 0.2% over the past month but remained flat year-over-year.
Detroit rents more affordable than many other large cities nationwide
Rent growth in Detroit has been relatively stable over the past year - some other large cities have seen more substantial increases. Detroit is still more affordable than most comparable cities across the country.
- Other cities across the state have seen rents marginally increase, with Michigan as a whole logging rent growth of 0.9% over the past year. For example, rents have grown by 1.3% in Lansing and 0.4% in Grand Rapids.
- Detroit's median two-bedroom rent of $896 is below the national average of $1,191. Nationwide, rents have grown by 1.4% over the past year compared to the stagnant growth in Detroit.
- While rents in Detroit remained moderately stable this year, similar cities saw increases, including Las Vegas (+3.2%), Charlotte (+2.9%), and Fresno (+2.2%); note that median 2BR rents in these cities go for $1,190, $1,153, and $1,053 respectively.
- Renters will find more reasonable prices in Detroit than most similar cities. For example, Chicago has a median 2BR rent of $1,284, which is nearly one-and-a-half times the price in Detroit.
For more information check out our national report. You can also access our full data for cities and counties across the U.S. at this link.
Methodology - Recent Updates:
Data from private listing sites, including our own, tends to skew toward luxury apartments, which introduces sample bias when estimates are calculated directly from these listings. To address these limitations, we’ve recently made major updates to our methodology, which we believe have greatly improved the accuracy and reliability of our estimates.
Read more about our new methodology below, or see a more detailed post here.
Methodology:
Apartment List is committed to making our rent estimates the best and most accurate available. To do this, we start with reliable median rent statistics from the Census Bureau, then extrapolate them forward to the current month using a growth rate calculated from our listing data. In doing so, we use a same-unit analysis similar to Case-Shiller’s approach, comparing only units that are available across both time periods to provide an accurate picture of rent growth in cities across the country.
Our approach corrects for the sample bias inherent in other private sources, producing results that are much closer to statistics published by the Census Bureau and HUD. Our methodology also allows us to construct a picture of rent growth over an extended period of time, with estimates that are updated each month.
Read more about our methodology here.
About Rent Reports:
Apartment List publishes monthly reports on rental trends for hundreds of cities across the U.S. We intend these reports to be a source of reliable information that help renters and policymakers make sound decisions, and we invest significant time and effort in gathering and analyzing rent data. Our work is covered regularly by journalists across the country.
We are continuously working to improve our methodology and data, with the goal of providing renters with the information that they need to make the best decisions.