Fort Wayne lands #2 spot in emerging housing markets report

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - A report by The Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com shows three Indiana cities have landed at the top of their emerging housing markets list for Winter 2023.

Fort Wayne was listed as the second top market behind Lafayette, with Elkhart-Goshen ranking #3 of the top 10 cities nationwide. The report says all three of these cities saw the number of homes on the market climb faster than the national average.

The report says the index ranks the top metro areas for home buyers looking for “an appreciating housing market, a strong local economy, and appealing lifestyle amenities”.

The group says they reviewed data from 300 metropolitan areas nationwide in December and compiled the list below based off of the above criteria. They say the index also uses economic and lifestyle data, including real-estate taxes, unemployment, wages, commute time and small-business loans.

The report says as housing affordability worsened, lower-cost housing markets that have strong local economies remained strong. The Chief Economist at Realtor.com says the top-ranked markets in the fourth quarter had more page views per property, faster home sales and lower unemployment than the market as a whole.

For Tippecanoe County, which includes college town Lafayette, the median home-sale price hit $243,000 in December, up 13% from last year according to the Indiana Association of Realtors. However, they say that price is still below the national median existing-home sales price of $366,900.

For Fort Wayne, the report says the median home listing price for December was $269,900. The Summit City moved up three rankings since it was put on the same list in Fall of 2022, when the median price was at $300,000.

You can view the full report here.

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