Metro Detroit’s outermost suburbs experienced the biggest increases in home values in the past year, according to new assessment data, while inner-ring communities such as Center Line, Dearborn and Hazel Park also saw notable jumps in values as buyers search for affordable housing.
Assessment data released this spring in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties shows how home values have increased across the region, reflecting which areas have seen the most growth. Assessments play a key role in determining what homeowners pay in property taxes, though Proposal A limits taxable values from increasing beyond the rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is lower.
In all three counties, some of the biggest jumps in residential values were not just in Metro Detroit’s exurbs, where there is still land for new housing to be built, such as Lyon Township, Milford Township and New Baltimore, but also in inner-ring suburbs such as Dearborn and Center Line. In Dearborn, home values have increased 8% since last year. In Hazel Park, values jumped 12% from 2025 to 2026.
Brian Parthum, an economist for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, said a mix of new single-family homes and condos has been built in Dearborn since 2022, according to building permit data. Builders constructed 21 new single-family homes in the city last year, with a median estimated value of $343,000, he said. That’s far above Dearborn’s overall median home value of $219,000.
In New Baltimore, where residential values rose 8.2% from 2025 to 2026, one of the biggest increases in Macomb County, several new housing developments are now under construction. One proposed development includes 227 homes.
Dale Haselhuhn, a lifelong Macomb County resident, moved with his wife from Macomb Township to a newly built home in New Baltimore a few weeks ago.
They were looking for a 2,000-square-foot ranch home in the St. Clair River area. They paid $590,000 for the home, which is in a subdivision that’s still being developed.
They were drawn to ranches because they are aging and wanted a home without stairs.
“This is the best deal for the house we could get,” said Haselhuhn, 70.
These value gains reflect a broader regional trend in the United States, said Jeff Glover of Glover Real Estate.
“The Midwest, for the first time in my 24-year career, is the hottest market in the country” because of its affordability, Glover said.
How assessments affect what you pay in property taxes
Assessments, conducted every spring in every community, play an important role in determining what homeowners pay in property taxes. In Michigan, property taxes are calculated using a home’s taxable value, which is multiplied by a resident’s local millage rate.
In addition to taxable value, each home is given a state equalized value. A home’s state equalized value is reviewed and adjusted by county and state equalization departments to ensure assessments are uniform throughout the state. In most cases, a home’s SEV will be identical to its assessed value.
But even as a home’s value increases, under the constitutional rules known as Proposal A, taxable values can only increase from year to year by the rate of inflation, or 5%, whichever is lower, regardless of how much your home’s market value increases. That keeps tax increases in check even if housing values soar.
Biggest increases in Metro Detroit’s exurbs
In both Macomb and Oakland counties, some of the biggest increases in home values were in the region’s exurbs — suburbs just beyond established communities with ample room to grow as people continue to move north.
Values went up 9.4% in rural Ray Township in Macomb County, the second-biggest jump in the county. And in Oakland County, Lyon Township’s values rose 8% while nearby Milford Township saw its values increase 10% since last year, two of only four cities and townships in the county where values jumped by more than 8%.
New housing is likely playing a key role in why Lyon and Milford Township’s values are increasing so much. Both communities also had two of the biggest jumps in values in 2025.
According to the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Lyon Township was the top-ranked community in the region for single-family residential permits in 2025. The township issued 184 residential housing permits.
And with selling prices that can start at more than $570,000 for some of those homes, that drives up home values.
“As we put in new builds, they tend to be at a higher price point,” said Darrin Fendley, a realtor with Stonway Group.
Fendley’s sister, Racquel York, lives in Lyon Township and her home, which she’s now selling, is an example of how values are changing. York said her house in a development at the corner of Milford and 12 Mile roads was $263,000 when she had it built 11 years ago. Fendley expected it to sell for twice that much.
Low-value communities experience big assessment jumps
Metro Detroit’s exurbs aren’t the only communities that experienced a significant increase in home values, according to the latest assessment data.
Communities with lower values to start also experienced notable jumps, such as Ecorse, Highland Park and River Rouge in Wayne County as well as Hazel Park in Oakland County. They all saw their residential values increase by more than 10%.
In Pontiac, where values increased 10.8% since last year, Mayor Mike McGuinness said the city’s rebound is pronounced because it declined as much as it did in the late 2000s and early 2010s during the mortgage crisis. But the rebound wasn’t a given, he said.
“Just because we fell isn’t a guarantee that we’d grow again,” McGuinness said.
In Hazel Park, where home values jumped 12% between 2025 and 2026, the city is drawing first-time homebuyers looking for affordable prices.
One homebuyer in Hazel Park is Ryan Cleveland, who bought his two-story house on Garfield Avenue in 2020. Cleveland said he paid $189,000 for his house in August 2020. His home’s value is now north of $250,000, a 32% increase.
“That was one of the reasons why I moved here, because the nominal house prices were lower than a corresponding house two miles west of here in Ferndale or a couple miles north of here in Royal Oak,” said Cleveland, 30. “People want to live there. They love the name of those cities.”
But Cleveland has noticed more activity on Hazel Park’s commercial corridor in recent years. The corridor on John R Street stretches through the middle of town and is filled with restaurants, drug stores and coffee shops.
“With the redevelopment that’s happening there, people are seeing it as a desirable place to start a family,” real estate agent Glover said. “Hazel Park is trending upward as a great first place to live.”
But Hazel Park’s newfound desirability comes with a challenge, said City Manager Ed Klobucher. The city has been “pretty much fully developed since the 1960s,” Klobucher said, meaning space for new development is limited.
This dynamic has prompted the city to encourage the development of infill housing, or housing on vacant lots between existing homes. Klobucher said the city has succeeded in these efforts.
“It makes sense to buy in Hazel Park because we’re a full-service community, we’re in a great location, and we have a lot of things that are happening in our city that are exciting,” Klobucher said.
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10 Metro Detroit communities with the biggest home value increases since 2025
1. Highland Park: 24%
2. Ecorse: 17%
3. River Rouge: 14%
4. Village of Leonard: 13%
5. Hazel Park: 12%
6. Wayne: 11%
7. Memphis: 10%
8. Milford Township: 10%
9. Inkster: 9%
10. Ray Township: 9%
SOURCE: Equalization reports from Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Home values see big changes in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties
Reporting by Anne Snabes, Max Bryan and Julia Cardi, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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