A new report from the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) highlights a growing trend in the state’s real estate market: investors increasingly dominate single-family homeownership, pushing affordability further out of reach for many Hoosiers.

“In Central Indiana, we see investors owning nearly half of all rental homes across five counties,” the report stated. “Out-of-state landlords make up a substantial 23.4% of rental ownership, siphoning an estimated $438 million annually from our local economy.”

The report, titled “Who Owns Central Indiana’s Houses: An Update of the Largest Single-Family Home Investors”, revealed that investor ownership is particularly concentrated in neighborhoods where low-to-moderate-priced homes are targeted.

While investors own only 8% of single-family homes across Marion, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, and Johnson counties, some neighborhoods show clusters where up to 40% of properties are investor-held.

“Neighborhoods dominated by mega-investors face challenges like property habitability issues, serial evictions, and declining property values,” the report said.

“Mega-investors, particularly those backed by private equity firms, prioritize short-term profit extraction, often to the detriment of tenants and surrounding communities.”

The study also found that renters under these investors face higher rents, excessive fees, and limited choices. The median rent for a single-family home in 2024 across the five counties was $1,799, with major investor-owned properties often charging more.

The FHCCI report calls for legislative action to protect tenants and limit the unchecked expansion of investor ownership.

Suggested measures by stakeholders so far have included offering tenants a first right of purchase and creating stricter regulations on mega-investor practices.

Editor note: Georgist economists believe an LVT and zoning reform would discourage real estate monopolies. The suggested measures by local stakeholders would likely still drive up housing costs.

“This is a defining issue for housing affordability,” the report stated in its conclusion. “If left unchecked, out-of-state investors will continue to erode the promise of homeownership in Indiana.”

As Indiana struggles with the rest of the country to provide enough housing at reasonable market rates, solutions like the land value tax are becoming increasingly popular in online and academic circles.

Municipalities that have shifted property taxes off of the value of buildings and improvements and on to land value have been known to increase their housing supply and lower costs.

For more information about Indiana’s housing crisis visit FHCCI’s website. For more information on LVT reform and the land monopoly, visit the educational resources page.