Rental properties are in high demand in the Indianapolis metro area

INDIANAPOLIS — New rental properties are going up all over the city of Indianapolis. One big reason is because renting in the metro area is in high demand.

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"Much of the Midwest, which Indianapolis is included, has had low inventory of stock for the last couple of years of apartments,” Doug Ressler the Manager of Business Intelligence at Yardi Matrix said. “It's just now recovering from that in terms of new supply being built."

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Ressler is a researcher for RentCafé. They travel the country to research rent prices and availability. According to their research, Indianapolis is the 11th most competitive market for apartments in the Midwest.

"There has been good and bad,” Samantha White a renter since 2020 said.

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White is a 911 dispatcher and a mom. She tells me she almost took a job in Indianapolis but the prices of renting what she would need scared her away.

"I looked into being a dispatcher in Indianapolis, but I would have to drive to Indy to do that because it's just unaffordable to live in Indy,” White said. “One bedroom apartments down there are like 1,200-1,300 dollars."

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She lives near Muncie now but still struggles to find something affordable that has all the things she needs.

"I just need a two-bedroom one bath and that would be good,” White said. “I don't want to pay more than $700 I don't make enough money for that."

RentCafé says the average amount of time an apartment in the Indianapolis metro area is vacant is 48 days with about six people per unit competing for it. However, with new stock coming to the area, RentCafé predicts prices will stabilize late this year into the next.

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"As new supply comes on prices act accordingly,” Ressler said. “So, what you see is prices that are reacting to the greater supply then prior.

RentCafé looks at 137 markets across the United States and all 50 units and up properties. They look at 5 different variables, the number of days an open apartment is vacant, number of renters competing for apartments, number of apartments available, renters renewing their leases, and the number of apartments occupied.

To read more about their study click here.