Update: The bug might not be with SwiftData or Observation framework, but rather in SwiftUI registering tracking for the observable. If I add this to the body above I do get the view updating. Section { Text("Planes departing = \(airport.numberOfAirplanesDeparting)") Text("Planes in flight = \(airport.numberOfAirplanesInFlight)") Text("Planes landing = \(airport.numberOfAirplanesLanding)") } And it updates the text in the footer as well. But with only the 3 Text views in the footer SwiftUI will not update when the airport's computed properties change.