US business magazine Forbes were "shocked" this month to discover people living in Detroit.
The magazine's Detroit Bureau Chief Joann Muller reported on the unexpected discovery. After moving to the Michigan automotive hub in the 1980s, the investigative reporter found themselves living in a ghost town, the city's main street Woodward Avenue abandoned.
With the city losing 25 per cent of its population in the last decade, that downward economic spiral seemed set to continue, at least if media headlines were anything to go by.
But Muller uncovered something sensational in July of this year:
"I found myself driving up Woodward on a Tuesday afternoon, and I was shocked - shocked - to see dozens of pedestrians strolling along the street. They were soaking up the sunshine at outdoor cafes, or taking a break from work at one of the downtown office buildings to stretch their legs or run errands. In any other city, this would be unremarkable. But in Detroit, it was an amazing sight. Seriously."
So what has happened? Why are people in Detroit?
It turns out they are living there.
Young professionals are starting to head back to the city, helped by the creation of thousands of jobs in the past year. Even Twitter has acquired an office in the area.
But with all these people comes a need for houses.
Indeed, Detroit's housing market is moving 27.27 per cent faster in the second quarter of 2012 than this time last year, according to Realtor.com, while inventory of property has fallen by 29.59 per cent. As a result, house prices have climbed by 5.82 per cent, enough to rank Detroit as one of America's Top 25 "Turnaround Towns" - not bad for a town still struggling with an unemployment rate of 10.2 per cent.
Estate agent Crystal Investment remains upbeat about the city's future. Talking exclusively to TheMoveChannel.com, Managing Director Luke Smith explained why things are looking up:
"While some of our clients remain sceptical about the state of the Detroit economy and are erring on the side of caution, most are happy that prices are now creeping up, unemployment figures are dropping and repossession figures lowering. This is hard evidence that the market has bottomed out and only has one direction to go, which is good news, especially for buy to let investors."
The discovery of people was less of a shock for Smith than Forbes.
"It's great that publications like ‘Forbes' are reporting positive news about the state of Detroit, instead of clouding peoples' minds with images of an apocalyptic city," Smith comments. "In fact, June was a record month for house sales, increasing 300 per cent from our sales figures in March."
With property markets officially on the rebound across America, one wonders how many more people will be discovered in Detroit next month.
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