This Indianapolis Market Report reviews December rental and housing data, including pricing trends, inventory levels, days on market, and overall investor outlook.
The goal of these reports is to provide property owners and investors with consistent, data-driven insights rather than short-term speculation.
Key Takeaways – December Indianapolis Market
Rental Market
Average rental pricing remains stable with seasonal winter softening
Inventory is trending slightly downward
Days on market increased, largely influenced by winter seasonality
Sales Market
Affordability remains a defining strength of Indianapolis
Appreciation trends are relatively flat year-over-year
Strong investor activity under $250,000 price points
Investor Outlook
Predictability has returned compared to post-COVID volatility
Interest rate expectations may influence 2026 demand
Process, pricing, and timing remain key drivers of performance
Why We Publish Market Reports
Consistent market reporting allows property owners and investors to make decisions based on trends and data rather than headlines or speculation.
Local market behavior often differs from national narratives, which is why regional analysis matters.
Want More Context or Have Questions?
If you’d like the full discussion with deeper context, you can watch the complete episode on our YouTube channel or website.
If you own property in the Indianapolis area and want to discuss how these trends may impact your rental, you’re welcome to contact our team.
Contact us now.
https://www.reddoorrents.com/contact
DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational purposes only and reflects general market observations. Individual results may vary.
Transcript Here
Indianapolis Rental Market — December
Jump into Indianapolis market reports for December. Like you said, we're going to have the full year and actually almost two years’ worth of data here on the graphs.
Anyway, jumping into Indianapolis, jumping around a little bit, I’ve got to be honest, the days on the market is the number that sticks out to me. It jumped up a little bit last month and then here we are at 63. Now, this is December, right? So it’s maybe arguably one of the harder months, maybe the hardest month to try to rent out a home. So it’s not unusual to see that jump up a little bit, but 63 is a little higher than I would like to see. But anyway, that is what it is.
So, 63 days on the market for Indianapolis. We have 1,415 homes. That’s actually down slightly, so that’s good. Inventory is trending down. And then the average rental price is still super affordable at $1,665. That is up 4% year-over-year, which is great news, and then down seasonally about 1% month over month. Price per square foot is $1.15 for single-family homes.
The two middle graphs there, the top one is apartments. There are 992 apartments available in Indianapolis with an average rental price of $1,132, so certainly way more affordable, and an average price per square foot of $1.46. We have 175 townhomes currently on the market with an average rental price of $1,500 and average days on the market even higher at 73 days.
So days on the market is a big deal here right now, but it is the data winner. I don’t know if I’d call it understandable, but it’s explainable. Take a look at the three graphs there. What’s encouraging to me is that these seem like two years of normalized rents instead of being all over the place. It peaks in the summer and tails off in the winter, which is quote-unquote normal.
After all those crazy COVID and post-COVID years where everything was all over the map, this feels relatively predictable, and as an investor, I like predictable.
Yeah, of course. Predictable is nice.
Listen, we’re in the winter season, and I kind of want to get your insight on this. Nothing we’re seeing here is completely shocking. Average days on market is a little higher than anyone would prefer, but I say it every podcast, as long as you’re working with a qualified property management company, you’re beating that number. It’s nothing to be super alarmed about.
And honestly, if you haven’t heard this month’s bonehead, make sure you check out that segment because that will absolutely assist you with reducing your days on market.
Back to winter, what I normally tell people is that while people don’t typically want to move in the winter, the real slowdowns I see are the week before and the week after major holidays. A week before and after Thanksgiving and Christmas, nothing is moving. Phones aren’t ringing. No showings. Completely dead.
Properties still rent in the winter. Those specific holiday windows are really the dead zones.
No, I agree. There is seasonality. Properties still rent in the winter—we rented plenty in December—but there’s more movement in spring and summer. It’s largely school-calendar driven. Same thing for sales. Spring and summer are the height of it. And it’s definitely more extreme right around the holidays.
Indianapolis Sales Market — December
All right, let’s get into sales data. Average days on the market is 50 days. That’s creeping up. We were in the 30s the past couple of months. Now we’re at 50. Some seasonality there, but it is creeping up.
Average price per square foot is $157. Average sales price for Indianapolis is $246,000. I say it every single month, but that is unbelievably inexpensive compared to the rest of the country. That affordability is one of the main reasons Indianapolis is always ranked top places to invest.
Number of homes sold is 853. And just a reminder, this is all from an investor point of view. These are homes sold under $500,000. We cap it there because investors aren’t buying over $500,000 as rentals in Indianapolis.
The bottom-left graph shows average sales price over time. The gray line is 2024, the red line is 2025. Honestly, it’s been relatively flat. Started around $240,000 and ended around $246,000. So minimal appreciation. If you’re looking for appreciation, Indianapolis is more of a cash-flow market.
The bottom-right graph shows number of homes sold by price point. You can see plenty of homes under $200,000. About 3,600 homes, and another 2,400 to 2,500 under $250,000. Lots of activity, lots of inventory, very affordable, very approachable market for investors.
The numbers are fine. Numbers are what they are.
Now I want to derail this a bit. I say this is more than seasonality. The sales market has been struggling well ahead of winter. Nothing has been selling. It’s been great for rentals because if you can’t sell, you turn it into a rental.
We need to talk about what’s happening in the broader market. If you’ve been paying attention to us, we recently vetted a real estate opportunity for myself. I fully intend to take advantage of this opportunity. I was hoping interest rates would decline going into 2026 to provide more wiggle room for cash flow, not to pocket it, but to fund necessary repairs.
That’s exactly what we’re starting to see. With administrative changes, interest rates are beginning to react. This isn’t political, but there are efforts focused on affordability—limiting institutional buyers, changes with Fannie and Freddie. I want your thoughts on that and also shamelessly plug our previous podcast where you can watch how to vet a deal start to finish.
What do you expect to happen in the market?
Honestly, I think it’s going to plug along. We’ve seen some pricing correction. It depends on the market. Some are up, some are down. Buyer activity is lower, sellers are higher, but interest rates likely come down.
I think we’re going to see a slow appreciation environment with slightly lower rates, which creates opportunity for investors. There are a lot of buyers sitting on the sidelines waiting for rates to dip just enough. I’m one of them.
I think we’re right on the fringe of that happening. Demand opens up, appreciation follows. So all that said, now is still a great time to buy. Appreciation is right around the corner.
