Detroit, Climate Haven, Is The Hottest Housing Market In America
Detroit has been called one of the safest places to live as the global climate crisis worsens. Despite the city’s troubles, it is also the hottest housing market in America.
According to new research from real estate research company CoreLogic, US home prices rose 5.2% in November from the same month the year earlier. This was the fastest pace since January 2023. Detroit’s figure was much stronger at 8.7%.
City news: Buffalo’s 10 Feet of Snow
City Trouble: America’s lead paint capital
A single factor drove the increases. Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist for CoreLogic, said, “Home price appreciation continued to push forward in November, despite the new highs in mortgage rates seen over the year.” In Detroit’s case, there will be a future benefit as well.
Climate Challenges
A persistent question is asked by the world’s leading experts in climate science. What would be the safest place to live as floods, drought, hurricanes, and thunderstorms increase frequency and severity? The risk of earthquakes is often added, even though their deadly effects are unrelated to global warming. These forecasts create imaginary geographic zones that will be the most habitable in 2050, the start of the decade when climate change is predicted to make many areas uninhabitable if the world does not reach specific greenhouse gas emission targets. These are also a critical part of the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The most famous forecast of where people will be safest from climate change was made by Parag Khanna, a leading expert in geopolitics and globalization, In his book “MOVE: The Forces Uprooting Us,” published in 2021. He looked at the effects of climate change and demographics to determine where people would find climate-safe havens. Famously, he suggested the Great Lakes region and Michigan in particular. In a much less visible forecast made in 2017, Popular Science named Michigan the best place to live in 2100. It was part of the magazine’s story “Where to live in America, 2100 A.D.,” which looked at long-term trends in sea levels, hurricanes, floods, and drought.
A review of several studies of the best places to relocate amid climate change, particularly in the US, provides the information to create safe-haven plot maps. The first set of cities is concentrated in the mid-South from North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. This region includes Asheville, Knoxville, Memphis, Richmond, and Louisville. The second runs from Colorado to Utah, including Denver and Salt Lake City. The third and largest include Western Pennsylvania, upstate New York, Michigan, northern Ohio, and Minnesota. The cities that are part of this plot map are Minneapolis, Green Bay, Buffalo, Toledo, Grand Rapids, and Detroit.
Demographics
Detroit is at the center of the largest geographic area. What the Census calls the Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI Combined Statistical Area (CSA) has 5.4 million residents across 6,534 square miles. Geographically, the area runs from the Ohio border on the south to Flint on the north and Ann Arbor near its western border. Its largest city is Detroit, which had lost over half its population since 1960, when the auto industry moved its manufacturing facilities elsewhere.
