Sell Your Commercial Property In Indiana

The Indiana rental market at a glance

Indiana had 799,766 renter households in the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey, or 29.4% of 2,716,009 occupied homes. Owners hold the other 70.6%. Larger rental stock is modest: 386,120 Indiana housing units, 13.0% of the total, sit in buildings of five or more units, per ACS table B25024.

Indiana rental vacancy stood at 5.6% in the 2020-2024 DP04 housing profile. Statewide median household income was $71,957, so the $1,062 median gross rent equals about 17.7% of a typical household's gross income. Even so, 48.1% of Indiana renter households paid 30% or more of income on rent, per ACS table B25070.

Five-year trends in Indiana

Indiana median gross rent rose 28.6% between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 ACS periods, from $826 to $1,062 a month. Median household income grew 27.8% over the same span, from $56,303 to $71,957. Rents and incomes therefore moved almost in step, with rents ahead by 0.8 percentage points.

Indiana added only 5,529 renter households between the two periods, a 0.7% gain. Units in five-plus buildings rose 5.8%, adding 21,119 units statewide. Larger-building stock therefore grew far faster than the renter base it serves.

Growth was uneven across Indiana. Hamilton County rents rose 33.8% and St. Joseph County rents 33.9%, while Hamilton County renter households jumped 18.9%. Elkhart County lost 5.0% of its renter households and Porter County 4.9%.

Indiana county comparison

Median gross rent in the nine Indiana counties profiled here ranges from $1,047 in Elkhart County to $1,574 in Hamilton County. Rental vacancy runs from 4.8% in Porter County to 12.0% in Elkhart County, per each county's 2020-2024 ACS figures.

Tippecanoe County leads this list on renter share, at 46.6%, and on units in five-plus buildings, at 27.2%. Hendricks County is the most owner-heavy, with renters in 21.8% of occupied homes.

Indiana landlord, tax and transfer rules

Under Indiana Code 32-31-1-20, an Indiana city or county may not regulate rental rates on private property through zoning or otherwise. The same section blocks local rules on deposits, lease terms and landlord fees, and voids any ordinance that conflicts.

Indiana Code 32-31-3-12 requires a landlord to send an itemized notice with any remaining deposit within 45 days after the lease ends and possession is delivered. A late refund can cost the full deposit plus attorney fees, so buyers ask for the deposit ledger.

Indiana assesses real property at true tax value, which Indiana Code 6-1.1-31-6 says does not mean fair market value. Circuit breaker credits under Section 6-1.1-20.6-7.5 limit bills to 2% of gross assessed value for residential property and 3% for nonresidential property.

Indiana levies no real estate transfer tax. A sales disclosure form under Indiana Code 6-1.1-5.5 must be filed with the county before the auditor accepts a deed.

What this means if you sell in Indiana

Owners who sell commercial property in Indiana are priced on rent rolls, vacancy and the tax cap that applies. A building in Porter County, at 4.8% vacancy, reads differently to a buyer than one in Elkhart County at 12.0%.

Taxes deserve a close look. Because the circuit breaker caps a bill by class, we check whether a mixed-use building falls under the 2% or the 3% limit. With no transfer tax, no state levy comes off the sale price.

We review Indiana buildings of five or more units in the nine counties above and across the rest of Indiana. Send the rent roll and the latest Indiana tax statement, and we will set the property against these county figures.