As it turns out, 2020 went out on a low note.
Who would have ever figured that, huh?
The Central Indiana rental market, which shrugged off the COVID-19 pandemic for most of 2020, saw a big decline in rented homes during the fourth quarter.
Quick Central Indiana Rental Market Overview
Indianapolis, for example, saw only 526 homes rent through our local MLS system during the
fourth quarter, compared to 710 homes during the same quarter in 2019.
Don’t worry about pulling out a calculator… that’s a 36% drop in rented homes.
But, don’t worry so much, either.
It’s really not all bad news.
And, we actually predicted the slowdown during our last quarterly update.
While fewer homes rented, the average rental price of a Indianapolis home increased from $1,221 in Q4, 2019 to $1,225 this past quarter. Days on market decreased as well, taking only 33 days to rents homes in Q4, 2020 compared to 41 the same quarter a year ago.
So, what’s the main driver in the decline in rented homes?
As we’ve discussed before, the rental inventory appears to be shrinking, which is a perfect segue into our next topic..
The Housing Market continues to surge
The housing market in Central Indiana continues to perform at unprecedented levels.
According to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (MIBOR), the Central Indiana housing market recorded three impressive statistics:
- Median sales price increased by 14.4% to $222,900.
- Closed sales increased 20.5% to 3,333.
- New Listings increased 20% to 2,062T&H Realty Services’ Perspective
As you should know, the rental market always slows in the 4th quarter in Indianapolis and almost always flickers to life in the 1st quarter.
That’s certainly holding true as we make our way through January.
After some anemic showing numbers from October – December, we saw a significant increase in showing beginning the second week of January.
We have no reason to think this trend won’t continue as we make our way into Spring.
T&H REALTY SERVICES’ PERSPECTIVE
As you should know, the rental market always slows in the 4th quarter in Indianapolis and almost always flickers to life in the 1st quarter.
That’s certainly holding true as we make our way through January.
After some anemic showing numbers from October – December, we saw a significant increase in showing beginning the second week of January.
We have no reason to think this trend won’t continue as we make our way into Spring.