Median sale price of City of Detroit houses have risen 41% since this time last year and 275% over the last five years. The median price of $38K is the skew, but if you're an investor, its percentages that matter and savvy investors are jumping in and driving those even more. Good news for Detroit tax collections, not so much for prospective home buyers as seen in this quote from today's Crains.

"The crazy thing about Detroit is, I don't think a lot of people understand how much international investment there is in the city in the residential market," Evans [a real estate agent] said. "They are pretty much using the Detroit [[residential) real estate market as an investment vehicle. Purchasing a home here ... versus buying a similar home in California might be a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. As the market continues to gain in value, they can make a substantial profit."

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...-as-prices-ris