Detroit-Warren-Dearborn carries $5.7 billion of CMBS across 272 loans, and the filed distress record reads calm: 3.0% as of July 2026, flat quarter over quarter, against a median DSCR of 1.81. Office is the largest book at $1.4 billion and the one desks will watch, yet its 4.9% distress rate runs well under the 11.1% national office mark — a notable gap for a metro so tied to the sector. Retail ($1.2 billion) and industrial ($0.9 billion) show no filed distress at all, while multifamily, at $0.7 billion and 6.8%, sits just inside the 7.9% national rate.
The maturity wall is back-loaded. The heaviest year is 2029, with $1.5 billion — 27% of the book — and that slug carries no filed distress today. The nearer 2028 vintage is lighter at $1.1 billion but runs hotter at 4.1%. That leaves the bulk of refinancing risk sitting several years out rather than pressing on the near term.
The on-the-ground record is where the strain shows through. There were 67 distress events over the past year — 44 store closures and 23 layoff notices totaling 3,814 jobs — and metro unemployment stood at 5.7% in August 2026, up a full point year over year. That street-level record runs ahead of a securitized book the servicers still read as steady.
In Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, all four tracked distress signals are elevated. Store closures sit at 39 (2.25 per 100k jobs), layoff notices at 24 (0.17% of employment), bank CRE over the noncurrent line at $9,953.2mm (33.59% of allocated CRE), and securitized loans in special servicing at 11 (2.19% of balance). All six pairwise comparisons agree on elevated readings—none disagree, none are blind—so the signal here is unanimous, not mixed. The strength is concentrated in the bank leg, which ranks 7th of 393 metros by both count and rate, while the store-closure rate rank (146th of 392) is far quieter than its count rank (11th), indicating size-driven volume rather than proportional stress.
| Signal | Level | Rate | Rank by count | Rank by rate | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| store closures store closures per 100,000 jobs |
39 closures | 2.25 per 100k jobs | 11 of 392 | 146 of 392 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| layoff notices (WARN) workers on layoff notices as a share of the metro's employment |
24 notices | 0.17% | 27 of 386 | 130 of 386 | elevated trailing 365 days to today
|
| bank CRE at lenders over the noncurrent line share of the CRE lent into this metro that sits at a lender over the blended-noncurrent line |
$9.95bn | 33.59% | 7 of 393 | 7 of 393 | elevated
allocated 2026-03-31
|
| securitized loans in special servicing share of the securitized balance read here that is in special servicing |
11 loan records | 2.19% | 16 of 335 | 91 of 335 | elevated 2026-07-29
|
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, is in a confirmed peak distress phase, with principal signals elevated on both the realized credit side and the leading real-economy side. On the credit front, distressed lender CRE exposure is $9.95bn (a 90th-percentile reading, with bank CRE at risk at 5.8% and a bank allocation share of 5.6%), while CMBS special servicing UPB is $124.0mm, equal to a 2.2% share of metro UPB. Ground-level signals are also firing: 24 WARN notices and 39 store closures in the past year, supported by 1 distressed bank and 11 CMBS loans in special servicing. However, the overall materiality is "modest", given only 0.3 (billion) in distressed bank assets; a bank CRE dollar value is not provided, so that absolute reading is unavailable.
| Bank | Deposit share | CRE / Capital* | Room contributed | Noncurrent CRE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cibc Bank Usa IL | 2.8% | 149% total 196%
|
🔒 | 1.24% |
| Oxford Bank MI | 96.2% | 136% total 341%
|
🔒 | 2.79% |
| First Merchants Bank IN | 7.0% | 183% total 243%
|
🔒 | 0.59% |
| Bank Of Ann Arbor MI | 42.1% | 212% total 294%
|
🔒 | 0.20% |
| Independent Bank MI | 20.1% | 174% total 287%
|
🔒 | 1.65% |
| First State Bank MI | 100.0% | 205% total 352%
|
🔒 | 0.15% |
| Choiceone Bank MI | 42.4% | 257% total 393%
|
🔒 | 0.80% |
| Tri-County Bank MI | 47.1% | 154% total 400%
|
🔒 | 1.82% |
| Superior National Bank MI | 15.9% | 130% total 195%
|
🔒 | 0.49% |
| Mercantile Bank MI | 3.9% | 222% total 311%
|
🔒 | 0.01% |
| Waterford Bank, N.a. OH | 18.3% | 248% total 398%
|
🔒 | 0.40% |
| The Farmers & Merchants State Bank OH | 3.4% | 231% total 374%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Citizens State Bank MI | 87.4% | 291% total 591%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Horizon Bank IN | 0.6% | 235% total 331%
|
🔒 | 0.26% |
| Northstar Bank MI | 41.8% | 298% total 548%
|
🔒 | 0.92% |
| First Community Bank MI | 4.5% | 268% total 520%
|
🔒 | 0.00% |
| Huron Valley State Bank MI | 100.0% | 304% total 587%
|
🔒 | 2.10% |
| Bank | Total CRE | CRE / Capital* | Noncurrent CRE | Early Warning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Independence Bank | $122M | 87% total 130%
|
2.50% | 🔒 |
| Oxford Bank | $407M | 136% total 341%
|
2.79% | 🔒 |
| Huron Valley State Bank | $187M | 304% total 587%
|
2.10% | 🔒 |
| First State Bank | $474M | 205% total 352%
|
0.15% | 🔒 |
| Citizens State Bank | $290M | 291% total 591%
|
0.00% | 🔒 |
| Mi Bank | $108M | 269% total 432%
|
0.00% | 🔒 |
| Community Unity Bank | $52M | 230% total 247%
|
0.00% | 🔒 |
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI carries $1.53bn of CMBS maturing within 24 months across 84 loans, against $923.3mm of room after committed draws at qualifying banks — a wall-to-room ratio of 1.66, which is ABOVE the median of 0.24, so this metro is MORE strained than the typical ranked metro, ranking 44 of 275, counting from the MOST strained. Before committed draws the ratio stands at 1.05, with room before committed of $1.46bn against committed draws of $656.8mm, so the strain is not purely a draw artifact; note that 5 banks are excluded here against 17 qualifying, though the exclusion check does not account for the reading (explained_by_exclusion is false). Total CMBS UPB is $5.69bn with a distressed share of 3.0%, and the caveat that the wall is CMBS only applies — every ratio is an upper bound on how much of it local banks would have to absorb.
Over the past 365 days, the vetted reading for Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI shows 42 store closures and 22 WARN notices affecting 3,814 jobs, alongside 3 CRE-likely bankruptcy filings — though that last figure is a state proxy rather than a metro-native count, and the jobs total is a floor because notices stating no headcount contribute zero.