what is the state of the housing market in the ann arbor/ypsilanti region?

SUMMARY

Ten years after completing the first affordable housing analysis for Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County, czb returned to the county to reevaluate the regional housing market and identify critical issues in need of attention. The Washtenaw housing market strengthened considerably between 2015 and 2025, fueled in large part by a growing University of Michigan and associated health system.

In the mid-2020s, Washtenaw County was in a transition decades in the making. Its economy had been changing, doubling down on Eds and Meds while moving on from manufacturing. At the same time, a generation of Baby Boomers was slowly making way for a large group of Millennial and Gen Z residents whose demand for housing was making itself felt in no uncertain terms. These changes were shifting housing market dynamics as the highly-educated and well-compensated increasingly drove the housing market, leaving lower-income households, especially single-earners, on the outside looking in.

The housing study identified gaps in the rental market and aging householders—both owners and renters—as issues worthy of attention by policymakers and practitioners. It also provided data-driven analysis for the entire county, sub-regions, and individual municipalities so that Washtenaw County could be understood both as a whole and in its smaller discrete parts.