Best Real Estate Markets in Indiana 2026: PropertyIQ Scores for 9 Indiana Metros

South Bend is the market most people picture when they think about Indiana real estate. It anchors a metro of more than 324,000 people, it is home to Notre Dame, and it has more name recognition than every other market on this list combined. The PropertyIQ Score for the best real estate markets in Indiana in 2026 tells a different story: South Bend is not even the top scorer in its own state.

As of June 30, 2026, Auburn -- a metro of roughly 43,600 people tucked in Indiana's northeast corner -- scores 93 out of 100, the highest of any Indiana market PropertyIQ covers. South Bend scores 85. Every other Indiana metro in this dataset lands in the same high-70s-to-high-80s band: Angola and Peru are tied at 86, Huntington matches South Bend at 85, Wabash is at 84, Elkhart is at 82, Decatur is at 80, and even the lowest score in the group, Plymouth, comes in at 79.

There is no weak market in Indiana's PropertyIQ dataset right now. What separates a 93 from a 79 has less to do with population or reputation than with the mechanics behind each score: how fast inventory is shrinking, what share of listings are cutting price, and how quickly homes are going under contract. Here is the full breakdown of how PropertyIQ scores nine Indiana metros as of June 2026.

Indiana PropertyIQ Scores at a Glance

All scores and median home values are as of June 30, 2026.

The lowest score in this group is Plymouth's 79. That still places Plymouth in C+ territory, at least 29 points above the 50-point line that anchors PropertyIQ's state-average scale. Every metro PropertyIQ covers in Indiana sits well inside the top half of the state's markets.

Auburn: Score 93, the Highest-Scoring Market in Indiana

Auburn scores 93 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, up 7 points from 86 in March. The median home value is $259,000. It is the smallest metro in this dataset by population -- about 43,600 people, per Census Bureau estimates -- and it posts the highest score anyway.

The numbers behind the 93 are the tightest in the state. For-sale inventory is down 21.7% year-over-year and new listings are down 23.3%, while the pending ratio sits at 1.30 -- the only market in this dataset where pending sales outnumber new listings coming to market. Only 9.7% of Auburn's active listings have taken a price cut, the lowest share of any Indiana metro here. Homes do sit for a median of 47 days, the longest stretch in the group, but that reads less like weak demand and more like sellers facing little pressure to discount: with homeownership at 82.3% and inventory this scarce, there is simply less turnover to move quickly through.

Angola: Score 86

Angola scores 86 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $324,000, the highest of any market in this dataset. Angola sits in Indiana's northeast corner near Lake James, and its price point reflects that.

New listings jumped 90.5% year-over-year, the largest supply response in the group, while inventory is still down 8.6% -- demand is absorbing the new supply about as fast as it arrives. The score has climbed 12 points in three months, up from 74 in March. One number worth watching: PropertyIQ's calculated overvaluation estimate puts Angola 29.5% above its income-supported affordable price, the highest of the nine metros, a signal that the run-up here has outpaced the area's $71,483 median income more than anywhere else on this list.

Peru: Score 86, the Best Cash-Flow Market in Indiana

Peru scores 86 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, after the largest three-month swing in the dataset -- up 35 points from 51 in March. The median home value is $168,000, the lowest of any Indiana metro covered here.

Peru is also the best income play in this group. Gross yield runs 6.84% and cap rate 4.11%, both the highest of the nine, and at Peru's income and price levels PropertyIQ estimates a household could save toward a down payment in 5.6 years, the fastest of any market on this list. The tradeoff shows up in price-reduced share: 23.4% of active Peru listings have cut their asking price, the highest share here, even as the metro posts the fastest 12-month home-value gain (15.9%) in the dataset. The score's history is volatile -- 94 in January, down to 46 in April, back to 92 in May -- a pattern typical of a small, thin market where a handful of transactions move the number sharply.

South Bend: Score 85, Notre Dame's Metro Isn't Indiana's Top Scorer

South Bend scores 85 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $243,000. At 324,180 people, it is by far the largest metro in this dataset -- seven times the population of the next-largest market here.

South Bend's fundamentals read as solid but unremarkable next to the smaller markets on this list. PropertyIQ's supporting hotness, supply, and demand readings all cluster in the low-to-mid 70s, with 682 homes actively for sale -- more than double any other Indiana metro covered here. That scale of inventory gives buyers more room to negotiate, which caps the score below tighter micro-markets like Auburn even though South Bend, on any absolute measure, is a healthy market. The score eased 4 points over the past three months, down from 89 in March, a mild pullback rather than a reversal.

Huntington: Score 85

Huntington scores 85 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $216,000. The three-month trend is up 5 points, but that understates how volatile the run-up has been: the score fell to 33 in February 2026 before climbing back to 85 by June, a 52-point round trip in four months.

Huntington's underlying data is calmer than its score history suggests. The pending ratio sits at 0.94, close to balanced, and inventory is down a modest 7.3% year-over-year. Home values here are up 13.84% over the past five years, the second-strongest five-year print in this dataset. At a $62,734 median income and 76.2% homeownership rate, Huntington reads as a stable, owner-occupied small-town market whose monthly score number swings harder than its fundamentals do.

Wabash: Score 84

Wabash scores 84 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $199,000. At roughly 30,900 people, it is the smallest metro covered in this dataset.

Wabash carries the fastest three-month home-value momentum of any Indiana market here (3.84%), but the supply side of the story is arguably more important: inventory is down 21.1% year-over-year and new listings are down 20%, while home sales themselves have fallen 27.5% year-over-year -- the steepest sales decline in the group. That combination looks less like surging buyer demand and more like a supply drought: fewer homes are coming to market, fewer are selling, and the ones that do sell are pricier than a year ago. The score has held in a fairly narrow band, up just 3 points over the past three months.

Elkhart: Score 82, Indiana's RV-Manufacturing Hub

Elkhart scores 82 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $269,000. At 206,868 people, it is the second-largest metro in this dataset, and its economy is the most concentrated in a single industry of any market here: BLS data show roughly 61,300 of the metro's approximately 133,000 nonfarm jobs were in manufacturing as of May 2026 -- close to half of total employment, reflecting Elkhart-Goshen's long-standing role as the country's recreational-vehicle manufacturing center.

That concentration shows up in the housing data. Elkhart's three-month home-value momentum, at 1.52%, is the softest of any Indiana metro here, even as its score jumped 18 points over the same window, the second-largest three-month move in the dataset. Supply is also the most elastic in the group -- PropertyIQ's supply-side reading is the highest of the nine -- while its demand reading is more middling. For a market this tied to a single manufacturing cycle, that combination of strong recent momentum and elastic supply is worth watching over the next few RV-industry sales cycles.

Decatur: Score 80, the Strongest Five-Year Gains With a Falling Score

Decatur scores 80 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026. The median home value is $257,000. Decatur's five-year home-value appreciation, at 23.02%, is the strongest of any Indiana metro in this dataset -- yet its current score is one of the lower ones here, and it posted the sharpest three-month decline in the group, down 7 points from 87 in March.

That gap is the clearest illustration in this dataset of what the PropertyIQ score actually measures. It is not a scoreboard for gains already banked; it is a forward-looking read on demand conditions right now. PropertyIQ's overvaluation estimate puts Decatur 16.2% above its income-supported affordable price, and new listings are up 18.2% year-over-year -- more supply arriving just as the pace of gains cools. Decatur remains a solid B- market at 80, but the trajectory matters more here than the trailing five-year number does.

Plymouth: Score 79, the Biggest Turnaround in the Dataset

Plymouth scores 79 out of 100 as of June 30, 2026, the lowest score in this Indiana roundup. The median home value is $268,000. The three-month trend is up 28 points, the second-largest gain in the dataset behind only Peru, after the score bottomed at 51 in March.

Plymouth's median days on market, at 46, is the second-longest of any market here, trailing only Auburn's 47, and 19.5% of active listings have cut their asking price. New listings are up 87.5% year-over-year, the second-largest supply increase in the group after Angola's. Put together, Plymouth looks like a market that spent early 2026 working through a glut of new supply and is only now finding its footing -- the C+ grade reflects where it stands today, not the strength of its recent recovery.

What the Indiana Scores Tell You

The single clearest signal in this dataset is that reputation does not drive the score. Auburn, a metro of 43,600 people with no marquee institution, scores 93. South Bend, home to Notre Dame and seven times Auburn's population, scores 85. The gap comes down to inventory contraction, price-cut share, and pending ratios -- not name recognition.

Every one of the nine Indiana metros PropertyIQ covers currently scores between 79 and 93, a narrower band than the 78-to-99 spread PropertyIQ found across major California metros, but every single one sits comfortably above the 50-point state-average line, most by 30 points or more. There is currently no soft market in Indiana's PropertyIQ dataset.

Smaller micropolitan metros swing far harder month to month than the two larger ones in this group. Peru's score moved from 94 in January to 46 in April and back to 92 in May before settling at 86 in June. Huntington fell to 33 in February before climbing to 85 by June -- a 52-point round trip in four months. South Bend (population 324,180) and Elkhart (population 206,868), the two largest metros here, moved far more gradually across the same stretch. Thinner monthly transaction counts in the small towns amplify the demand signal in both directions, which is worth remembering before treating any single month's score as a verdict.

Decatur's home values are up 23% over the past five years, the strongest print in this dataset, yet Decatur currently has one of the lower scores in the group and posted the sharpest three-month decline of any Indiana metro here. The score is a forward-looking demand signal, not a report card on gains already realized.

The lowest score in this Indiana group, Plymouth's 79, is barely a point above Riverside's 78, the lowest score in PropertyIQ's California roundup -- and Plymouth arrived there after a 28-point three-month recovery from a March low of 51. In a state where every metro scores comfortably above average, the more useful question isn't which market is "best," but which ones are still finding their footing after a rough start to the year.

How PropertyIQ Scores Indiana Markets

PropertyIQ scores markets on a 0-100 scale where 50 represents the state average. A score above 50 means above-average market conditions compared to the Indiana baseline. Every market in this dataset scores at least 79, meaning all nine sit well within the top half of Indiana markets by PropertyIQ's model.

The score is updated monthly and is built from a market's demand signal -- home-value momentum, pending ratios, inventory trends, days on market, and the share of listings cutting price, drawn from Zillow and Realtor.com data. It is a forward-looking estimate of how a market is likely to perform over roughly the next three years relative to its state, where 50 equals the state average.