It’s easier to find a motivated seller than motivated buyer right now. When I jumped in the industry in mid-2021, I would have buyers calling me wanting to put an offer in on a property practically their first conversation with me. Frantic. What a reality distortion that was, in hindsight. What I’m seeing is buyers want to see real value before they spend their hard-earned cash. In fact, I’m seeing a bit of a surge in the other direction (seller activity) in some areas of Indianapolis. Let’s dig into this. The following graphs are for Center Township only, the most “urban” part of Indianapolis.

Median Price hit its highest point at $300,000 in July 2023. We are currently hovering a bit under $250,000 in Center Township. Things have softened in the inner-most part of Indianapolis’s core housing-wise. I think it will be a while until we see things shifting strongly in favor of sellers in core urban Indianapolis. There will be people that want to challenge me on this, but I think the data speaks plainly as well as our experience on our realty team.

Why, though?

Frankly, I am getting calls left & right for people wanting to sell their rental properties. It could be that their equity rose and they want to cash out. It could be that they have other debts and cash flow obligations. It could be they got tired of the property taxes reassessments. It’s a mixture of all of these factors. And refinancing is not really an option right now.

The point is, in the center of Indianapolis, the market has subtly shifted towards buyers.

I have never seen so many “1% Rule” properties available to purchase as I do now. The problem is, nobody wants them. Investors have shifted towards a strong preference for “value adds” likely in hopes of stacking more cash until rates cool.

No, the market is not crashing down.

No, values are not causing buyers to go underwater or foreclose. We have some of the lowest foreclosure rates in recent history.

However, indications are playing out that buyers are getting more picky. Because they can be when there are 4x as many options out there.

Not all areas of town are acting this way. The story in Avon or Fishers or Carmel, IN could be completely different. In fact I’m noticing it is: Carmel reached its peak median price in March of 2025 ($650,000). It’s still surging upwards.

All of this presents opportunities for those who know what they’re looking for: Urban Indianapolis you’re going to have more options and leverage right now, while in all likelihood that Carmel home / investment is going to be tough to lock down but quite strong as an appreciating asset.

How are rates playing into this?

Rates are cooling off just in time for the home-buying rush of the Spring season. All we need is “good enough” which is what we have.

We headed into May with relatively lower rates averaging out at 6.76%. Keep in mind we nearly hit 7% average in mid April at the height of market / tariff worries.

My narrative since the beginning of this year was that rates don’t really matter so much. They’re in all likelihood going to remain in the upper-6% territory until the economy makes more drastic shifts that are discernible to the Fed. Until then, it’s just noise. Focus on the basics - is it a good deal? If so, buy.