$1 million home sales having ‘incredible year;’ Macomb County left out

Despite the spectacular views from shore, Macomb County's
 Lake St. Clair waterfront offers few luxury homes.

Tri-county Realtors report that they enjoyed an “incredible year” in the sale of high-end homes in the $1 million-plus range in 2015, with final figures expected to hit their highest level in a decade, but the luxury market is almost exclusively the purview of Oakland and Wayne counties.
According to Crain’s Detroit Business, through October 229 homes sold at or above the $1 million mark in metro Detroit, up from the 217 in all of 2014 and 211 in 2013

Realcomp II Ltd. figures show that dozens of homes in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Rochester and the Grosse Pointes have sold for seven figures in the past 12 months.

But the high-end market has not surfaced in Macomb County. According to Realtor.com just five homes are currently on the market in the $1 million or more range, and two of those homes offer expansive Lake St. Clair frontage.
Realtors say that expensive homes that are “closer to town or in town,” are the most popular – a reference to the Pointes, Birmingham and Rochester. In addition, "dense walkable suburbs with an urban feel" are the hot buzzwords in residential real estate right now, and Macomb County offers virtual no large homes in that category.

Bloomfield Hills and Township accounted for 84 of the $1-million-plus sales in 2014, about 37 percent of them, with another 67 sold in Birmingham, Crain’s reported. Since 2012, about 70 percent of Metro Detroit’s new luxury homes were built in Oakland County, with construction largely in three areas: Bloomfield Hills and Township and the village of Franklin. The top end of the market is expected to grow further in 2016.