New Baltimore ― Macomb County’s northern suburbs, including one community on Lake St. Clair, saw the highest increases in home values from 2025 to 2026, a sign of continued growth and development in the county’s northern tier, experts said.
The assessed value of residential property in Macomb County was $45.8 billion in 2026, a 6% increase over 2025, according to data released by the county’s equalization department this spring. Several of the Macomb County communities with the largest increases in home values are in rural areas or are on the edge of the Detroit suburbs, and residents are moving into newly built homes in some of these areas.
Other communities that saw big jumps are in the southern half of Macomb County and offer affordable homes, municipal leaders said.
The part of the city of Memphis in Macomb County saw the highest percent increase in home values in the past year ― 10.8%. Memphis is a small city split between two counties, and the Macomb County portion has 782 people.
Ray Township in northern Macomb County had the second-highest increase in home values at 9.4%. Ray was followed by New Baltimore (8.2%), Richmond (7.8%), Center Line (7.8%), Clinton Township (7.7%) and Washington Township (7.6%).
Kristen Sieloff, the county’s equalization director, said people in Macomb County are “always moving north.”
“They’re moving north out of the city and sprawling a little bit,” Sieloff said, adding that communities such as Washington, Ray and Richmond are the “next tier for growth.”
Meanwhile, Clinton Township Supervisor Paul Gieleghem said the increase in his community’s home values speaks to the fact that the township, which is in southern to mid-Macomb County, has a lot of “quality affordable housing.”
“When interest rates are higher and people are nervous about the economy and they’re seeing rising gas prices and any degree of uncertainty, … they’re looking for affordable housing, not necessarily what are the highest-end houses,” Gieleghem said.
Will higher home values increase property taxes?
Assessments are done annually in every community. The state of Michigan is expected to complete its equalization process by May 26, which produces state equalized values, or SEVs, for every community in the state. The SEV is generally the same as the assessed value and are one-half of a property’s true cash value.
In communities with increases in home values, which include all communities in Macomb County, homeowners will see their property taxes rise. But for most homeowners, their taxes won’t increase by as high of a percentage as their assessed value rose because of Michigan’s Proposal A.
Passed by Michigan voters in 1994, it caps a home’s taxable value at 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. The taxable value is the amount used to calculate residents’ property tax bills.
Michigan also has the Headlee Amendment, a state law that requires local governments to reduce millage rates if taxable property values rise faster than the rate of inflation.
High increases in some northern Macomb communities
New Baltimore Mayor Tom Semaan said he believes several factors are likely drawing residents to his city right off Lake St. Clair and increasing home values. He said the city’s downtown has seen an increase in retailers and noted that it’s home to some “tremendous” restaurants. He said the downtown could be contributing to the increase in the city’s home values.
He said people want to “enjoy their downtime where they live.”
“They don’t want to travel as far,” Semaan said, “and when you have a community that can offer amenities for leisure as well as relaxation in a safe environment, you … do gain positive traction.”
He added that New Baltimore, a city of over 12,000 people, has attracted “some really good residential home builders.”
“We’re holding our value because of the quality of the homes,” Semaan said.
He said newly constructed homes are “well over half a million dollars” in New Baltimore.
Semaan said four residential developments, which range from several homes to an entire subdivision, are being developed in New Baltimore. One proposed development includes 227 homes, and the county’s public works office will need to approve the developer’s stormwater management plans before the project can start.
Semaan noted that people want access to Lake St. Clair, and New Baltimore is on the lake.
One new development in New Baltimore
New Baltimore’s Windbridge Estates subdivision, which is off of Ridge Road and south of 25 Mile Road, is one of the developments driving up values in the lakeside community. Home to large brick home and spacious lots, some homeowners walked their dogs and, at one point, a family zoomed down a street on a golf cart, on a recent weekday.
Jeremy Schares moved to the community not long ago with his wife and two sons from northwest Indiana because they wanted to be closer to his wife’s family. His wife’s mother lives in Lake Orion, and her sister lives in East China in St. Clair County. She used to have a home in Russell Island, and anytime they would visit her on the island, they would drive through New Baltimore, he said.
“It was a place of familiarity for us,” said Schares, 41.
They found a development ― Windbridge Estates ― with new houses going up, and it “seemed like a nice area,” he said. He and his family moved into their home last October. Amid the sound of construction work in their yard, Schares said that a pool is being built in the back of their property.
Schares, a wealth adviser, guessed that home values increased significantly in New Baltimore partly because of people “wanting to get away from maybe more congested areas.”
“This area seems not as congested as others, just from my observation,” he said.
Schares said the new developments in New Baltimore are also contributing to the increase in home values. He said it costs more to build a new house now than before the COVID-19 pandemic, so the homes are also worth more.
Another Macomb County city with increasing values
Richmond, a city of over 5,900 people to the north of New Baltimore, is also seeing new home development. Home values have increased 7.7% since last year.
City Manager Jon Moore said new subdivisions are still being built there. Some other communities in Macomb County are built out, and their property values only change based on the sales of existing homes, he said. But in Richmond, new homes contribute to the state equalized value and help increase it.
“People like the small town atmosphere that we’ve created,” Moore said.
The city manager said Richmond has two traditional downtown areas as well as strip malls at the south end of town.
He said Richmond allows people to “move further away from the congestion,” but still has city services.
Some southern Macomb communities see high increases
Gieleghem, the Clinton Township supervisor, said his township, where values jumped 8% since last spring, has “the full range of housing” ― from affordable, 1,000-square-foot ranches to “extremely wealthy” homes.
Gieleghem said he thinks many people in the township are staying in their homes as they age because of Michigan’s Proposal A. He said Proposal A caps the increases to a home’s taxable value. When someone sells their home, the home’s taxable value rises to the new assessed value, which Gieleghem calls “the pop-up,” as it’s typically much higher.
“People as they’re aging, they’re tending to age in place rather than downsize,” he said, “because of the tax implications of the pop-up.”
Because of Proposal A, Clinton Township’s property tax revenue isn’t increasing by as much as its state equalized value is.
Farther to the south, Center Line also saw a high increase in its state equalized value. City Manager Dennis Champine said Center Line is a community that people are looking to buy homes in because of “what it has to offer.”
“I do think that people are paying more for housing across the board, but the value of purchasing in Center Line is a good value,” Champine said.
The average market value of a home in Center Line was $66,000 to $70,000 ten years ago; now, it’s over $125,000, he said.
“That is an average market value,” Champine said. “We have seen properties here in Center Line that have sold for above $300,000, and that is really, really a rare thing for this community, because of the fact that, you know, just 10 years ago that same property would have sold for probably no more than 120.”
asnabes@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Which Macomb County communities saw largest jumps in home values
Reporting by Anne Snabes, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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