Indiana Housing Market Update

Updated October 20, 2026 · Intempus Property Management · Property Investment · 14 min read

The Indiana housing market is one of the last large markets in the country where the median home still costs less than $300,000. Redfin put the statewide median sale price at $281,119 in August 2026, up 2.2 percent year over year, with homes going to contract in 37 days. Indianapolis, the state's dominant metro, is cheaper still. That affordability is the whole story here, and it is what has kept both buyer and renter demand steadier than in more expensive markets, even as the autumn sales pace has clearly cooled.

Indiana housing market snapshot

Redfin and the Indiana Association of REALTORS publish separate price series over different periods and different property mixes. Redfin's figure is an August 2026 monthly median across all home types. The association's is a rolling three-month median for June through August 2026. They are cited separately here and never averaged. The association stopped issuing monthly press releases after April 2026, so the association figures on this page come from its data hub at data.indianarealtors.com, with the covered period stated next to each one.

Indiana home prices: cheap, and still rising while sales cool

The median home price in Indiana was $281,119 in August 2026 according to Redfin, up 2.2 percent from August 2025. The Indiana Association of REALTORS, measuring a rolling three-month window, put the median at $285,000 for June through August 2026, up about 4 percent year over year, and reported that the monthly median has run 3 to 5 percent above 2025 every month since January. The association also calculates real price appreciation from repeat sales, and that measure held at a 5.9 percent annualized rate through the summer, the thirteenth consecutive year of real appreciation in the state.

Sellers are getting more resistance than those headline gains suggest. Redfin found 23.0 percent of Indiana listings took a price cut in August 2026, up from 22.0 percent a year earlier, and the statewide sale-to-list ratio sat at 97.5 percent. Only 18.4 percent of homes sold above list price. The association saw the same pattern in its own summer data, with price reductions running at about 47 percent of total inventory and sellers receiving 96.3 percent of original list price.

The clearer signal is on the demand side, and it arrived in September. Indiana buyers put 7,318 homes under contract that month, 10 percent fewer than in September 2025 and 15 percent fewer than in August, with pendings falling in 60 of the 92 counties. New listings were essentially flat, up 0.3 percent, so this is not a supply story: the ratio of new pending contracts to new listings fell from 0.81 last September to 0.74. Closed sales, which lag contracts by a month or two, were down 2.3 percent in September. The association notes that pending counts for the most recent weeks are always revised upward, so the full-month figure of 10 percent is the one to use rather than the steeper three-week reading.

The Indiana rental market: the cheapest of the three

Zillow put the average rent in Indiana at $1,420 as of October 19, 2026, up $20 from the previous month but down $30 from a year earlier, and 29 percent below the $2,000 national average. There were 11,106 rentals available statewide. The year-over-year decline is modest and the monthly series has been remarkably flat, sitting between $1,395 and $1,400 for most of 2026 before this month's move. Owners should read that as a market with no rent growth tailwind rather than one in decline.

The spread across Indiana markets is very wide. Carmel, the affluent Hamilton County suburb north of Indianapolis, averages $2,400 and is the only market on our table with meaningful rent growth, up $150 year over year. Bloomington averages $2,100 on the strength of university demand. Fort Wayne averages $1,221 and Greenwood has given back $111 over twelve months. Indianapolis itself sits at $1,500, exactly flat both month over month and year over year, and Zillow rates its rental demand as cool.

Indiana rent prices by market

Zillow Rental Manager, average rent across all bedroom counts and property types. Each row carries the date Zillow last refreshed that market, because Zillow does not refresh every city page on the same day. The Fishers and Bloomington pages were last updated on September 3 and September 27, 2026 respectively; every other row is current to October 19, 2026.

Indiana metros: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Bloomington

Indianapolis is the state's economic center and its most affordable major metro on a median sale price basis. Fort Wayne is cheaper still and is the fastest appreciating of the three. Bloomington is the outlier: a small university market with the highest median price of the three, the slowest sales, and the only one where prices fell over the past year. All three figures below come from Redfin's rolling three-month window ending September 2026, so they are directly comparable to each other.

Indianapolis affordability: the median home price against the national median

This is the number that matters most. Redfin put the Indianapolis median home price at $256,628 over the three months ending September 2026, up 2.7 percent year over year, and calculates that median as 37 percent below the national average. Homes sold after 27 days, five days slower than a year earlier, and the sale-to-list ratio was 97.9 percent. Price cuts tell the sharper story: 46.8 percent of Indianapolis listings took one, up 3.1 points year over year. A buyer in Indianapolis still pays well under two thirds of what the typical American buyer pays, and that gap is the single strongest thing this market has going for it.

On the demand drivers behind that affordability, the honest picture is mixed and worth stating plainly. Population growth is real but suburban. The Indiana Business Research Center, the state's official Census data center, reported Indiana at 6.97 million residents in 2025, up 38,579 or 0.56 percent. Within the Indianapolis area the growth is concentrated in the collar counties: Hamilton County added 7,351 residents, up 1.9 percent and the largest numeric gain in the state, with Boone up 2.6 percent, Hancock up 2.4 percent and Johnson up 1.9 percent. Marion County, which contains Indianapolis proper, reached 992,196 residents but grew only 0.2 percent, its smallest annual gain since 2021.

Payrolls are the weaker leg, and they are still shrinking. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported total nonfarm employment in the Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood metro area at 1,182,100 in August 2026, down 1.1 percent over twelve months. This is not job growth and we will not call it that. Two sectors did grow: construction employment was up 7.0 percent and education and health services up 1.0 percent, while professional and business services fell 2.7 percent and trade, transportation and utilities fell 2.6 percent. The area unemployment rate was 3.3 percent in August 2026, and the Indiana Association of REALTORS reported at the end of September that unemployment rates had fallen in all twelve Indiana metro areas over the past year. So the accurate framing is a low and improving unemployment rate and strong construction hiring alongside a real overall payroll decline, with household growth pushing outward into Hamilton, Boone, Hancock and Johnson counties.

That same suburban demand is where the autumn slowdown landed hardest. The association reported September pending contracts down 20 percent in both Hamilton and Johnson counties and down 13.6 percent in Marion County, with median days on market in Hamilton County rising from 19 days to 29. For a rental owner the pattern still favors suburban single family product, but the resale exit is slower than it was a year ago.

Fort Wayne and Bloomington

Fort Wayne is the value end of the state's major markets, with a median sale price of $234,888 over the three months ending September 2026, up 5.3 percent year over year and the strongest appreciation of the three metros, against an average rent of $1,221 that rose just $21 over twelve months. Homes there sell in 14 days, two days faster than last year, and 26.4 percent sold above list price, so the sales market is tighter than the rental market. Rising prices against flat rent compress yield, so the return has to come from buying well and operating cleanly. Fort Wayne also had the largest regional pending-sales decline in September, down 16.5 percent year over year.

Bloomington runs on a different clock and is the one metro where prices fell. Its median sale price was $319,848 over the three months ending September 2026, down 4.5 percent year over year, with homes taking 73 days to sell and only 7.6 percent selling above list. Average rent is $2,100, up $100 year over year as of September 27, 2026. The critical operational fact in Bloomington is not the price, it is the calendar: Indiana University sets the leasing year, a unit that has not leased by midsummer will likely sit until the following cycle, and turnover clusters into a few weeks in August.

Mortgage rates and what they mean for Indiana owners

Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.40 percent on October 15, 2026, unchanged from the week before and well above the 6.27 percent of a year earlier. Rates have moved fast: the same survey read 7.03 percent on September 24 and 7.28 percent on October 1.

That move has changed the rent versus own arithmetic in Indiana, and it now points in different directions depending on where you own. Principal and interest on the statewide median home at 20 percent down and 7.40 percent works out to about $1,557 a month, against a statewide average rent of $1,420. At the state level, owning now costs roughly $137 a month more than renting before taxes, insurance and maintenance. That is a reversal from earlier in the year, when the two were close to level.

In Indianapolis the verdict is the opposite, because the median home is cheaper and the rent is higher. Principal and interest on the $256,628 Indianapolis median comes to about $1,421 a month against an average rent of $1,500, so owning is about $79 a month cheaper on the raw payment. Add property taxes, insurance and maintenance and that advantage closes quickly, but it is close enough that Indianapolis renters do the math. Every meaningful decline in mortgage rates will convert some of your renter pool into buyers faster here than almost anywhere else in the country. That is an argument for retention, longer lease terms and keeping units in genuinely competitive condition.

What this means if you own an Indiana rental

• Know which comparison applies to your property. Statewide, owning costs about $137 a month more than the average rent at 7.40 percent. In Indianapolis, owning is about $79 a month cheaper. If your unit is in Marion County, your tenants are pricing a mortgage against your rent and the mortgage is winning on the raw payment.
• Do not count on rent growth. The statewide average is down $30 year over year and Indianapolis rent is exactly flat both month over month and year over year. Carmel is the only market on our table with real growth. Budget on flat rent and compete on condition and service.
• Expect a slower exit if you are selling. New pending contracts statewide fell 10 percent in September, 23 percent of Indiana listings took a price cut, and sellers are getting about 96 percent of original list. Price accordingly or hold.
• The suburbs are growing but cooled hardest. Hamilton, Boone, Hancock and Johnson counties still have the population growth, but September pendings fell 20 percent in Hamilton and Johnson and Hamilton days on market went from 19 to 29. Good long-run demand, slower short-run liquidity.
• Do not extrapolate from Carmel or Fishers. Those markets average $2,400 and $2,275 while Fort Wayne averages $1,221. A statewide figure of $1,420 describes neither one.

Indiana housing market FAQ

Related pages

Sources: Redfin Indiana housing market data, August 2026; Redfin Indianapolis housing market data, three months ending September 2026; Redfin Fort Wayne housing market data, three months ending September 2026; Redfin Bloomington housing market data, three months ending September 2026; Indiana Association of REALTORS Housing Data Hub, Monday Map, September 2026 pending contracts; Indiana Association of REALTORS Housing Data Hub, Summing Up the Summer Housing Market, June through August 2026; Indiana Association of REALTORS, 2026 Forecast; Zillow Rental Manager, Indiana rental market trends, October 19, 2026; Zillow Rental Manager, Indianapolis rental market trends, October 19, 2026; United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood metro area economy at a glance, August 2026; Indiana Business Research Center, Indiana population estimates, 2025; Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, October 15, 2026. Figures are the most recent published readings at the time of writing and are provided for general information, not investment advice.