Part 1: The Rents are Too Damn High!
Renting hasn’t been easy for Fort Wayne resident Abby, who has moved on from an apartment that felt like anything but a luxury even though “Luxury” was part of its name. “What kind of ‘luxury apartment’ has one working elevator 80% of the time and makes you go to the basement and pay to do your own laundry, with washers and dryers that also are not working 80% of the time? Then raise our rent anyway! Every year, wherever I lived, they raised the rent. Nothing in the apartment changed, but they always added a hundred to two hundred dollars.”
Another resident, Taylor, was lucky enough to buy a home in recent years, but her family members have to live further away because of high rent. She said, “The rent around Fort Wayne is way too expensive for what Fort Wayne actually is. It is insane. My little sister is still renting because she’s 25. She wants to move to Fort Wayne and she’s like, ‘I can’t afford that.’”
About 30% of households in Allen County are renters, and rent prices have grown dramatically in recent years. Back in 2010, the average monthly rent was $668, and it grew a small percentage each year, between 1% and 3%, until it rose 13% in 2020. By 2023, the average monthly apartment rent was $1,022. Rental homes ran more expensive, growing about 5% per year from 2013 until 2021, when it increased by 9% per year in 2022 and 2023.
Where does that leave a population that hasn’t seen a 30% increase in pay in that timeframe?
A Fort Wayne native who now lives out-of-state, 26-year-old Sara, voiced her concerns. “When I was younger, rent for a three-bed, two-bath apartment was almost always under $1,000 per month. I had one for about $800 a month. Now I have noticed some wanting $1,300 plus for basic apartments. I remember seeing listings for $600 to $900 a month for entire houses. It’s ridiculous considering the minimum wage in Indiana is still $7.25 per hour. I was able to scrape by in my $800-dollar-a-month apartment, splitting rent off $10 an hour.”
She said that this creates an untenable situation. “The price of everything is going up, but people are not being paid more. In my opinion, rent on an apartment in Fort Wayne should never be over $800 a month unless it’s downtown or luxury.”
Shirley Rork, the Interim Executive Director from Just Neighbors, discussed how difficult the Fort Wayne rental market is to navigate for the people her organization serves. “For many, the situation feels hopeless. They know that even if they manage to secure housing, sustaining it long-term is often impossible with rents this high. Compounding the problem is the severe shortage of affordable housing. In Fort Wayne, the waiting list for affordable housing options is often several years long, which means families in need of immediate help have nowhere to turn. This crisis is pushing more and more families into homelessness, and it’s critical that we address both the rising costs of housing and the urgent need to increase affordable housing options in our community.”
Part 2: Skyrocketing Home Prices in Fort Wayne
If parents of adult children anywhere in the US have a complaint about housing, it’s that they’ve benefited from a situation that’s prevented their kids from becoming homeowners too.
Fort Wayne resident Michelle shared her opinion about the current housing market. “Our home value has increased significantly, nearly $200,000, since we bought it in 2011. That’s great for us, but home prices have priced our 25-year-old daughter out of purchasing a home altogether. Even though she has a master’s degree and a great job, she can’t afford to buy a home.”
Comparing the 1990s to today brought into focus what she and her husband were able to do in their early twenties, versus what their daughter can do today. “It’s unreal to see how much the home prices and market have changed since my husband and I got married in 1995. Our (first) home cost about $85,000 to build. It was a little over a thousand square feet.”
The long-term consequences make Michelle and parents like her worry. “We’re making home ownership an impossible dream for most young people. What’s the eventual consequence going to be for them to not be building that home equity and wealth? It’s not fair at all to young people.”
Many residents, especially those who were lucky enough to buy homes before 2017, have been shocked by the steep climb in house prices. The Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that Fort Wayne’s home sales price trend has had a sharp upward trajectory in the past few years. After six years of sales prices increasing at 3% per year, the average cost of a home was $154,300 in 2017. In 2018, the average price rose by 12% to $173,000, then grew an average of 4% per year for 2019 and 2020. Growth spiked 10% in 2021 because a lot of people wanted to buy homes, but only a few were for sale than.
Nationally, the median price for a single-family home peaked in 2022 at $442,600 according to the St. Louis Fed. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, that median price has fallen to $419,200. Contrast this with US Census data that shows the per capita income at $36,432 per year, and the median household income at $68,839. Unfortunately, recent price growth has made homeownership less likely for a growing number of Hoosiers.
On average, Indiana’s 2024 for-sale inventory hovered around 15,000 properties according to Reventure. However, due to higher consumer demand, this number fell to a low of 6,700 in 2021 and has steadily increased since then. By early 2024, for-sale inventory had climbed back to 15,000.
As of November 2024, Realtor listed 1,347 homes for sale in Allen County, with a median listing home price of $245,000, and Zillow listed the average home price in Fort Wayne as $229,713. More recently, in March 2025, Realtor listed 1,748 homes for sale and Zillow listed the average home price at $235,821, up 5.5% over the past year. Prices are currently holding steady or growing in Fort Wayne, but can that trend continue? Real estate and rent prices in the sunbelt are starting to fall.
Taylor, a Fort Wayne homeowner, was lucky in the timing of her real estate purchases. “In 2018 we closed on our first house. We paid 7K over list price because that’s when the market was starting to be a little crazy. In January of 2021, we decided to buy a house that would fit our family,” a move that allowed her and her husband to double their square footage. They put in seven offers until one was accepted.
“We paid list price, but it was a couple going through a divorce. They need to quickly sell it. Every other offer, our starting offer was ten to 15 (thousand) over asking, and we kept getting overbid.”
The new home was a fixer-upper that she and her husband had to commit to improving. “They started a project in every room of the house, and they didn’t finish any of them. My whole downstairs had outdoor trim as inside trim. It was a hot, hot mess.”
Meanwhile, a bidding war ended quickly on the home that they were selling, which they bought for $164,000 and listed for $180,000. Out-of-state investors offered to pay $20,000 over asking price and said they wanted to use it as a home base for relatives in the area.
“We made good money, and no other offer could compare. We wanted to sell to a family, but they offered us 20 grand over appraisal and it was dumb to not take that kind of money.”
Since buying Taylor’s original property, the owners have tried to sell it, and currently are offering it for rent at $2,175 per month. Meanwhile, Taylor and her husband have run into obstacles trying to improve their current home. For instance, they received a $9,000 estimate for a backyard fence, and, “Now it’s even more because of lumber keeps going up and tariffs and imports. It’s insane. Everything that revolves around your own living space is so insanely priced.”
Part 3: Fort Wayne Leadership’s Housing Initiatives
Mary Tyndall, the Public Information Officer for City of Fort Wayne Community Development, weighed in on some of these challenges.
“The City of Fort Wayne’s Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services recognizes the economic pressures faced by homebuyers and renters not only in Fort Wayne but across the country. We are focused on taking action at the local level and working to make more housing both available and affordable for our residents.”
Tyndall cited Mayor Sharon Tucker’s recent announcement about A Lot to Love, which is a new infill housing initiative aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods by transforming vacant lots into new homes. “The first phase of the initiative offers discounted City-owned lots and a developer incentive pilot program to encourage infill housing development, making new construction more accessible to both developers and homebuyers. This program is only open to small-scale developers, including individuals, small businesses, and nonprofits.” Applications for infill lots can be submitted until April 18, 2025.
“We also recently brought an Innovative Housing Showcase to the East Central Neighborhood. The showcase integrated cutting-edge designs, sustainable materials, and efficient construction methods into four houses. The homes were built using a variety of methods and materials, including digital fabrication, steel shipping containers, and prefabricated modules. The showcase was a success and will help developers incorporate these methods so together we can quickly increase access to quality, affordable housing.”
Tyndall mentioned other examples of how the City works to fund new affordable housing, such as their partnership with House Investment to support the construction of 208 apartments near McMillen Park. They also support Habitat for Humanity by donating vacant lots and investing federal funds in their projects.
“We will continue working every day on these critical housing issues, because all of us deserve access to safe and comfortable homes we can afford.”
For privacy reasons, we did not disclose the full names of the homeowners and renters mentioned in this article.
For more information visit fwmediacollaborative.com
Other Housing Resources:
Apartment Association of Fort Wayne
Indiana Judicial Branch Help with Housing
