I think that Chicago has reached a “tipping point”. If I was a middle-class Chicago resident homeowner, I’d be looking at putting my house on the market and moving to the outer suburbs. I’d want to do it before the housing market in the city begin to decline neighborhood by neighborhood.
Yup. People are always amazed that the wealthiest counties in Michigan are those surrounding Detroit. The people fled to cheaper and safer places like Oakland then all the little businesses followed. Big companies like Ernst & Young, JP Morgan, Quicken Loans, and Compuware are doing just fine and even growing in Detroit but aren’t enough to support an entire city.
The big guys can afford to stay but what really kills a city is the loss of thousands of little businesses and homeowners.