A new study from personal finance site WalletHub says Indy is one of the worst cities in the nation for real estate. This study isn’t a look at just at whether houses are being sold or not, but how attractive and healthy the real estate market is overall. And in almost every aspect, Indy ranked poorly.
WalletHub looked at 16 factors that fell into two categories: real estate market (including homes underwater, average days a house is on the market, price appreciation, foreclosures, etc.), and affordability and the overall economic environment (including housing affordability, population growth rate, unemployment rate, etc.). The first category was weighted at 80 percent, while the second was weighted at 20 percent.
Overall, Indianapolis came in at No. 276 out of 300. If we look at just major cities with a population of more than 300,000, we clock in at No. 57 out of 62, just ahead of cities like Miami, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.
What’s causing us to be so very low? Well, we came in 247th for the percentage of homes with negative equity and 232nd for foreclosure rate. That didn’t help. The overall economic and population picture for the state also hurt us — our unemployment rate put us in 161st place, our population growth rate was 149th and the job growth rate was 88th.
However, local data doesn’t paint quite such a bleak picture. According to the Indiana Association of Realtors’ July report, median statewide home prices edged up 3.6 percent year-over-year to $145,000. Closed sales were down 2.1 percent versus last year, but Realtors attribute the drop-off to a lack of supply rather than demand. In Marion County, sales are down just 0.4 percent, and median prices were nearly flat against 2015.
If you’re looking for “better” real estate markets, the best large cities include Austin, Denver, Nashville and Seattle.
Allison Carter is an engagement producer at IndyStar. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter.