Deep Dive into Corktown, a Detroit Neighborhood
Welcome to Corktown, the heart of Detroit’s booming rental market, where affordable housing and lucrative investment opportunities converge.
There’s just one problem with taking advantage of all those great real estate gems…
Whether you’re a seasoned investor or just starting out, the complexity of the City of Detroit—with its 183 neighborhoods—can be overwhelming. Each area offers a unique blend of investment possibilities and financial prospects that can leave even the most experienced property moguls scratching their heads.
That’s where we come in.
Harnessing over two decades of experience as Detroit natives and property managers, we’ve created this “Deep Dive” series.
Our goal? To demystify this sprawling region and empower you with the insights needed to maximize your investment returns across the City of Detroit.
Here’s an overview of the city’s 105 different neighborhoods, including links to our previous Deep Dives:
In this series, we’re not just giving you the lay of the land; we’re offering a comprehensive, engaging experience. Expect video walkthroughs of each neighborhood, giving you a real sense of the community vibe and street-level details. Additionally, each area receives a detailed Report Card, evaluating critical factors such as:
- Housing stock quality
- Market dynamics
- Tenant demographics
- Livability scores
And much more.
We’ll delve into pricing trends, average returns, and upcoming developments that could affect property values, rental rates, and demand. Plus, we’ll address common challenges you may face as a landlord in each locale, equipping you with the knowledge to navigate the complexities of Detroit real estate confidently.
Each neighborhood concludes with an overall rental investment “score,” guiding you to make informed decisions on where to invest next.
So sit back, relax, and join us on your personalized tour of the Motor City’s most promising investment opportunities.
Overview of Corktown – Detroit, Michigan
In this installment, we turn our focus to Corktown, Detroit’s oldest surviving neighborhood, rich in history and bursting with new life.
Unlike some of the famously affordable areas in Detroit, Corktown presents a different kind of opportunity for investors—one that comes with a higher price tag, but equally higher rewards.
Almost exclusively class B and above or trending B, with rents starting at $2,000 per month, Corktown isn’t the place to find entry-level deals. However, for those who know where to look, there are still gems to be unearthed amidst its ongoing gentrification.
So, to kick things off, here’s a quick overview of Corktown:
All in all, Corktown is a prime spot for those looking to invest in a neighborhood that embodies Detroit’s comeback story.
With property prices often hovering around $300,000, this area is far from the budget-friendly zones where you might snag a house for under $100k. Yet, Corktown’s charm and the steady rise in tenant quality—attracted by lucrative Ford tech jobs—make it a compelling choice for savvy investors.
We recently did a walkthrough of Corktown’s newly-revitalized streets, so you can see for yourself how drastic its transformation has been:
Why is Corktown so appealing to tenants, local businesses, and, by extension, investors?
- Location, Location, Location: Nestled in the heart of Detroit, Corktown is a stone’s throw away from significant landmarks and offers a seamless blend of old-world charm and modern amenities. The neighborhood’s historic significance is captured in every brick of its streets, while contemporary developments like the newly repurposed Tiger Stadium and surrounding condos add a fresh appeal.
- Ford’s New Tech Campus: A significant draw is the Michigan Central Station, which Ford has revitalized with a nearly billion-dollar investment, turning it into a hub for electric vehicle development. This alone has spurred a wave of new residents and businesses, further boosting the area’s appeal.
- Vibrant Local Community: The eclectic mix of businesses along Michigan Avenue, from local shops to trendy bars like O’Connor and restaurants like Alba, contribute to the neighborhood’s vibrant atmosphere. Corktown’s revitalization is a snapshot of “Renaissance Detroit,” with areas like the CPA Building waiting to be transformed into the next big thing.
- Architectural Charm: Built in the 1830’s, Corktown retains its aesthetic appeal as Detroit’s oldest neighborhood. Wander through streets like Wabash and Leverette, and you’ll see a blend of old and new—historic homes from the late 1800s next to newly renovated or freshly built properties. While it’s challenging to find properties under $300,000, the potential for flipping older homes or building new structures provides lucrative opportunities.
Corktown offers a fascinating mix of history, modernity, and growth potential, making it a magnet for high-quality tenants and investors who can afford it.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at the property market in Corktown.
Housing Market Analysis
Corktown nowadays is composed almost exclusively of condos. Even townhouses are scarce here.
Single-family units? Only if you know exactly where to look. But don’t worry, that’s why we’re here.
Let’s break down the neighborhood for investors:
Sale Trends
Since Ford announced its planned back in 2018, the property market here has taken a huge shift.
In the past 6 years, average home prices have increased from $314,000 to a record high of $467,889:
Just for context, the average home price in all of Detroit is just $74,882 – so prices in Corktown are 84% higher than in the rest of the city.
And prices have risen by 7.2% in the last year alone, so this trend isn’t going to slow down anytime soon.
Rent Trends
As home prices have increased, so too have rents.
The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in Corktown is $2,237 a month, and the average for a 3-bedroom unit is $5,151. With the median sale price of a single-family home at $467,889, it actually is possible to find properties here that fit the 1% rule, but it definitely isn’t easy.
Across Detroit, rents have been increasing 1.7% YOY on average, but in Corktown, they’re growing more like 100% YOY:
So while properties here aren’t cheap, they will produce strong rental returns in the coming years, especially as rents continue to climb here.
Investment Opportunities in Corktown
Now, let’s look at some properties for sale and rent in Corktown, Detroit in August 2024 (time of writing).
Because it’s so close to Downtown Detroit, the housing stock in Corktown is mostly condos and apartments. There are still some charming 19th-century single-family homes and townhomes, but it’s hard to find one under half a mil.
Even condos here are mostly priced over the $500k mark, as you can see from the current listings on Zillow:
We’ve broken down these current listings by their housing type to give you a better idea of what’s really available on the market right now:
Since most units here are either new or newly-renovated, there isn’t much room for adding value.
So where’s the sweet spot for investors?
If you can find a fixer-upper on one of Corktown’s sought-after residential streets, like Leverette or Wabash, BUY IT.
Otherwise, we feel the best investment opportunities remaining here are teardowns or empty lots where new construction can be built – ideally multi-family units or townhomes.
That being said, there’s a lot of demand for rentals in Corktown now, and very few (if any) family homes on the market for tenants to choose from.
As of August 2024, there are only 107 rentals on the market in all of Corktown. Of those, just ONE is a townhouse, and there isn’t even one single-family home available:
The rest are all condos, mostly in newly-built or refurbished buildings like the Perennial Corktown and Elton Park Corktown Apartments.
Here are some properties on the market in Corktown in August 2024:
Let’s zero in on one of them to get a feel for what it would look like to invest here.
This is a listing for sale in Corktown in August 2024, on leafy Leverette St – a popular residential area.
As you can see, this property is not for an entry-level investor. With a price tag of $599,000, this duplex has two apartments – one upstairs and one downstairs. Both are freshly renovated, retaining all of the period charm of this 120+ year old home, so it’s really a turnkey investment.
Our estimate is that each unit would rent for at least $2,500 – bringing your total monthly rent to $5,000.
That gives you a RTP ratio of .83% – not far off the 1% rule. With both rents and property values rising rapidly here, that’s not a bad starting point.
Just look at the appreciation journey this duplex has undergone over the past decade:
Notice the sharp spike this year, which coincided with the reopening of the Michigan Central Station development. Now just imagine what this property will sell for in 5 years.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of what’s possible when investing here, but feel free to reach out to us if you want more detailed data.
For now, let’s move on from the numbers to the more qualitative analysis, before we tally up the final score for Corktown as a rental investment neighborhood.
Area and Tenant Quality
Tenants are the core of any rental business. Attract great tenants, and you can pocket more profit while minimizing property management headaches. Get bad tenants and the opposite is true.
A huge factor in attracting good tenants is the area class you’re investing in (i.e. how nice the neighborhood is). So how does Corktown stack up?
Corktown isn’t just one of the most desirable locations in Detroit amongst tenants – it’s also been named one of the 16 most up-and-coming places to live in all of the United States.
Historic charm, proximity to Downtown, and Ford’s new mobility innovation district all contribute to the high prices and high demand from tenants in Corktown. Let’s take a deeper look.
Housing Stock
Home ownership rates are fairly low here, due to the numbers of apartments and condos that have been built in recent years. As of 2024, 35% of Corktown residents own their homes, while 65% rent.
When it comes to housing stock quality, age is always a fairly good indicator of what to expect. In this area, there’s a split between homes built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and brand-new condo buildings, like those overlooking the old Tigers Stadium.
As we mentioned before, your best bet as a rental investor in Corktown is to look for an older home in need of renovation. But there aren’t too many left, and there will be fierce competition if one comes on the market.
Otherwise, this is one of the few neighborhoods in Detroit where land values are so high that you can turn a profit by developing vacant lots. Here’s an example of one also overlooking Tigers Stadium that’s on the market in August 2024 for $150,000:
If you want to find out about investment opportunities here, contact our team about listings in Corktown.
Tenant Stock
Corktown is consistently ranked amongst the top in Detroit for:
- Best Neighborhoods for Young Professionals
- Most Diverse Neighborhoods
- Best Places to Live
As one resident says on Niche: “The Corktown neighborhood is very family oriented, very safe, liberal, diverse, and stylish with a Detroit hipster vibe.”
Don’t just take their word for it, though. Here’s some quantitative data on the type of renters you can expect here:
Let’s be clear though – this data was incredibly hard to find. There are lots of issues with the Census in Detroit (there’s even a lawsuit going on about this). But for Corktown, these problems are even more pronounced.
The best estimations we found were from a 2019 report preparing for the Michigan Central Station development, so please take these figures with a massive grain of salt. As of August 2024, no up-to-date data exists to show how these huge economic changes have impacted the Census figures in Corktown.
That being said, here’s what we can say:
- Most residents here make significantly more (almost 2x more) than the Detroit average.
- They also have higher levels of educational attainment on average.
- The vast majority (65%) rent, rather than own, their properties.
- There are more young professionals than family households.
The high-quality tech jobs being created by Ford’s autonomous vehicle center are a big contributing factor in all of this. Corktown is now a huge draw for young tech professionals working in startups or for Ford itself, who want to be close to work and enjoy the modern amenities of this newly-revived area.
In summary, this is a firmly Class B to A neighborhood that attracts firmly Class B to A tenants.
Economic Development
Countless development projects have completely transformed Corktown over the past few years:
- On June 13, 2004, Ford reopened Michigan Central Station as a new hub for autonomous vehicle technology, a project that injected nearly $1B into Corktown.
- Furthermore, the Michigan Central Station development has been a catalyst for even more growth, transforming abandoned structures like the Book Depository into Newlab @ Michigan Central, a startup incubator. Already it has started to attract innovative startups such as Grounded, a smart-electric RV manufacturer, to move to the area.
- The $150M Elton Park Corktown development was completed in 2019, including 6 apartment buildings and 11,400 sq. ft. of retail space.
- Detroit City Football Club has announced plans to build a soccer stadium in Corktown, which should be opening in 2027.
- To keep pace with demand, the Greater Corktown Neighborhood Framework Plan calls for 842 new housing units to be built over the next 6 years, with 60% of them reserved for affordable housing.
This is why prices have skyrocketed in just the past 6 months, and why they will continue to do so (probably) forever.
Crime and Safety
Overall, crime statistics in Corktown are fairly consistent with the rest of Detroit.
According to Niche, when residents were polled the majority said that the area is “pretty safe,” which is reflected in the reviews it gets from people who live there.
So, while safety may be a concern in some Detroit areas, Corktown’s fast-developing status offers some cushion against that.
Investment Report Card
Now let’s add all of this up and see how Corktown performs. We’ve created this standardized Report Card for each neighborhood, so you can understand how we evaluate and determine the overall score:
Our overall opinion is this:
Corktown really is a Detroit success story, and we believe it’s just the first of many. The fact that the Motor City was famous for under-$10k teardown houses and vacant lots just a few years ago, and now land in Corktown is selling for at least $70 per square foot, says a lot.
Investment opportunities are still to be found in Corktown, from flipping older homes to building new structures, all with the potential for high rental yields.
So, while it may not be the place for entry-level investors, it does show you what you can expect by investing in one of Detroit’s fast up-and-coming neighborhoods.
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Stay tuned for our upcoming Deep Dives into other Detroit neighborhoods. If you have a specific area in mind, leave a comment, and we’ll be sure to cover it in one of our next installments.
Want to explore investment properties in Corktown? Contact us for a list of our available units.