Indianapolis has no shelter from housing stress
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The disappearance of houses for sale, builder supply chain problems and 7%-plus mortgage rates have made renting more affordable than buying. Sort of.
Why it matters: It's a miserable time to search for housing, and people are feeling the trauma.
Driving the news: The median mortgage costs $273 per month more than the median rent in Indianapolis, per a Redfin report.
- Buying a house is more cost-effective than renting in only four markets — Detroit, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Houston.
Yes, but: Rent prices are brutal, too.
- Indianapolis in March had the fourth-highest rent increase in the nation, with monthly rent rising 10.5% to a median $1,539, per Redfin.
The big picture: A record 78% of Americans think it's a bad time to buy a house, according to a Gallup survey, the highest since Gallup started asking the question in 1978, Axios Emily Peck writes.
Meanwhile, more than one-third of Indianapolis renters are severely rent burdened, per a report from Moody's Analytics, which means they spend 30% or more of household income on monthly payments.
The bottom line: Housing trends are squeezing everyone, but especially those on the lower end of the income spectrum.