Indiana Housing Market

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Kluch

So true. The thing is people coming from the coasts or other higher COL areas still find most of the housing market extremely affordable. The rest of us who are working for businesses within the state of Indiana are finding affordable housing fairly sparse. Reminds me of when we lived in Chicago, everyone still says it's a very affordable big city... which is true if you're coming from San Diego or NYC. If you're not upper middle class the tax burden there is just far too high. Indiana thankfully doesn't have that problem but wages haven't adjusted enough per inflation.

It sounds like Indiana needs to further replicate the economic model of Hamilton County and continue to grow higher paying jobs as that is where most of the population growth is occurring in the state, as population growth isn't occurring in very many other areas of the state geographically. The tired model of low wage/low educational attainment/low skill, southern style model just doesn't work any more because why compete with some of the worst run states in the US? Indiana needs to have higher expectations, and that means a greater skilled workforce of all types, be it white collar or blue collar.

[indy_317]

I think the cost of housing in urban areas have somewhat stabilized with the hike in interest rates. If fewer people are moving, then a significant downturn in prices likely won't happen. So long as people are able to make due for however long they need (x years till retirement, x years till the kids are out of K-12/college, etc.), they will likely keep their low mortgage rate. Basically people just need to be able to keep an income coming in that allows them to pay for the basics.

We are still seeing people needing to turn to metro areas for employment opportunities and overall quality of life (things to do, better healthcare). So long as this is the case, urban areas will continue to have the current higher home prices and rents.

The one thing that I see as different this time around is that a lot of public and private REIT type companies got into RE investing. I read about one private NYC firm required $1M minimum deposit. The firm went out and purchased single family homes all over the country. These purchases were no longer just older homes geared toward low to lower middle income renters. These companies have went out and purchased homes geared toward the middle and upper middle class in the suburbs as well. I wonder if a lot of wealth folks took market gains made over decades and decided a more stable investment would be RE? This has turned every single family home into an investment opportunity. I see starter homes now going for over $200K! My starter home was $125K back in the mid-2000s.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It sounds like Indiana needs to further replicate the economic model of Hamilton County and continue to grow higher paying jobs as that is where most of the population growth is occurring in the state, as population growth isn't occurring in very many other areas of the state geographically. The tired model of low wage/low educational attainment/low skill, southern style model just doesn't work any more because why compete with some of the worst run states in the US? Indiana needs to have higher expectations, and that means a greater skilled workforce of all types, be it white collar or blue collar.

The problem is there just aren't enough of those types of jobs to make more geographic areas viable.

I lived in Carmel for several years. It's easily the nicest place I've ever lived, but those types of jobs benefit from a critical mass of a bunch of smart people and quality jobs clustering closely together in the same geographic area.

[Berteau]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

It sounds like Indiana needs to further replicate the economic model of Hamilton County and continue to grow higher paying jobs as that is where most of the population growth is occurring in the state

Well yeah captain obvious. Every city in America want's "high paying jobs" or to look like Hamilton County. I'm sure most of the country would love to live in Carmel and have a high paying job. The issue is there are a finite number of high paying jobs and people qualified for them. And most of those people do not want to live in Indiana. No matter what you try to do there is always going to be the top 1% - 10% of jobs and wealth concentrated in a limited area. Its not so simple to be about an "economic model." Most cities want big corporate jobs, but you need a critical mass of educated people, national recognition, and nice amenities and beautiful communities to make that happen. Essentially you need to be the best suburb(s) of a large city or a large desirable city that people recognize from other states for high paying white collar corporate jobs.