Indiana home values have climbed 14.8% since the June 2022 peak — 10th best in the country — and the state is sitting at a new all-time high. The national story is a split screen: the Sun Belt is cooling while the Midwest and Northeast keep climbing. Here is what the Zillow data actually says, and what it looks like at the county and ZIP level in Northwest Indiana.
Every few weeks a chart makes the rounds showing the U.S. housing market splitting in two — the Sun Belt rolling over, the Midwest and Northeast still climbing. On October 9, housing analyst Nick Gerli published the state-by-state version of that chart: home value change since the June 2022 peak. Indiana came in at #10, up 14.8%.
I don’t take a chart’s word for it, including that one. I pulled the Zillow research files that chart is built from and ran the numbers myself, then went two levels deeper into the county and ZIP data underneath. Two things came out of it. Gerli’s national read holds up to the decimal. And the local picture below it is more useful than the headline — in one specific way nobody has mentioned.
That specific way: Indiana is not recovering from a 2022 peak. Indiana is at a peak. August 2026 is the highest reading in the entire Zillow series going back to January 2000. So when you read “up 14.8% since the 2022 peak,” the honest version is “up 14.8% and still at a new high.”
📊 The National Picture — Every State Since June 2022
Here are the ten states that gained the most since June 2022, with the national benchmark and the state that lost the most.
| State | Typical home value | Since June 2022 | vs. August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | $450,873 | +27.5% | +5.0% |
| New Jersey | $580,353 | +23.6% | +3.9% |
| Wisconsin | $339,699 | +21.0% | +5.1% |
| Rhode Island | $511,233 | +20.4% | +3.4% |
| New Hampshire | $516,306 | +19.5% | +2.9% |
| New York | $526,714 | +19.4% | +5.6% |
| Illinois | $297,573 | +18.1% | +5.3% |
| Ohio | $248,803 | +18.0% | +3.4% |
| Kansas | $249,603 | +17.5% | +3.8% |
| Indiana | $260,095 | +14.8% | +3.0% |
| United States | $368,697 | +5.6% | +1.2% |
| Arizona | $417,990 | −8.8% | −1.1% |
Source: Zillow Home Value Index, all homes (single-family, condo and co-op), 35th–65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted. Data through August 31, 2026; files pulled October 12, 2026. National ranking first observed by Nick Gerli of Reventure App, October 9, 2026.
🔍 What Indiana’s #10 Ranking Actually Says
Connecticut gained 27.5% since June 2022. Indiana gained 14.8%. There are two ways to read that gap, and both are true.
The comparative read: Indiana gained a bit more than half what the top state did. If you already own a home here, that is a real number — the typical Indiana home is worth roughly $33,600 more than it was in June 2022.
The opening read: at $260,095, the typical Indiana home is $108,601 below the national figure and $190,778 below Connecticut’s. Indiana prices climbed steadily rather than sharply. The value story here is not “prices exploded.” It is “prices kept going and the entry point stayed reachable.”
The contrast at the other end is the part that makes the chart worth reading. Arizona is down 8.8% since June 2022 — and it actually peaked a month later than the rest of the country, in July 2022, at $462,506. The typical Arizona home has given back $44,516 of that. Several Texas metros are worse: Austin is down 26.8% from the 2022 peak. That is what happens when a market runs hard on cheap money and then rates reset to near 7%. Indiana did not run that hard, and it has not given much back.
📈 The Part the Headline Skips — Indiana Is at a New High
“Since the June 2022 peak” is the way almost everybody frames this chart, and it quietly implies that June 2022 was the top and everything since is a partial recovery. For a handful of states, that framing is wrong in a way that matters.
| State | Peak month in Zillow’s series | That peak value | August 2026 value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | August 2026 | $260,095 | $260,095 |
| Connecticut | August 2026 | $450,873 | $450,873 |
| Illinois | August 2026 | $297,573 | $297,573 |
| Wisconsin | August 2026 | $339,699 | $339,699 |
| Arizona | July 2022 | $462,506 | $417,990 |
The peak month is the single highest monthly reading in each state’s series from January 2000 through August 2026. For Indiana, Connecticut, Illinois and Wisconsin that month is the most recent one in the file.
Indiana home values are at their highest level on record, and that record is the most recent month in the file. That is a meaningfully different statement than “up 14.8% since the 2022 peak,” and for anyone weighing a decision, it is the more relevant one. There is no giveback to recover from here. The climb is current.
🏗️ The Driver — Inventory, and Where That Story Breaks Down
The standard explanation for the Midwest and Northeast streak is scarcity: far fewer homes for sale than before the pandemic, so the ones that come up get bid up. That checks out in the states that led the list.
| Area | Homes for sale, Aug 2026 | vs. August 2019 | vs. August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | 8,210 | −60.4% | +6.8% |
| Illinois | 34,028 | −54.0% | +4.8% |
| Arizona | 36,781 | +5.0% | +3.6% |
| Indiana | 26,508 | −6.7% | +8.7% |
Source: Zillow for-sale inventory, all homes. Raw counts, not seasonally adjusted. Data through August 31, 2026; pulled October 12, 2026.
Connecticut has 60% fewer homes listed than it did in August 2019. Illinois is down 54%. That is the scarcity story, and it is real where it applies. Arizona — the state that lost the most — is carrying 5% more inventory than pre-pandemic.
Indiana, though, does not fit that template. The statewide for-sale count is 26,508, down only 6.7% from August 2019 and actually up 8.7% from a year ago. Indiana does not have a 30-to-60% inventory shortage. So the appreciation here is not simply a scarcity scramble — that matters, because it means Indiana’s gain is not resting on the same thin supply that is doing the work in Connecticut.
Inside Northwest Indiana, though, the story splits by county:
| County | Homes for sale, Aug 2026 | vs. August 2019 | vs. August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porter County | 600 | −30.1% | −2.9% |
| La Porte County | 400 | −26.9% | +5.5% |
| Lake County | 1,652 | −15.2% | −9.3% |
Source: Zillow for-sale inventory, all homes. Raw counts. Data through August 31, 2026.
Porter and La Porte counties are still carrying roughly 27 to 30% fewer listings than in 2019 — much closer to the Northeast pattern than to the statewide figure. Lake County is closer to normal at −15.2%, and it is the only one of the three where inventory actually fell over the past year.
🏠 County Level — the Growth Ran Where Prices Were Lowest
Here is where the local data stops echoing the national one. In Northwest Indiana, the strongest appreciation since June 2022 was not in the most expensive county. It was in the cheapest one.
| County | Typical home value | Since June 2022 | vs. August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Porte County | $263,156 | +21.4% | +4.3% |
| Lake County | $253,329 | +11.9% | +1.9% |
| Porter County | $332,910 | +11.4% | +2.4% |
| Starke County | $227,015 | +27.1% | +6.4% |
Source: Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, 35th–65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted. Data through August 31, 2026. Starke County is outside the three-county core and is included for regional context.
La Porte County is up 21.4% since June 2022, roughly double Lake and Porter counties. Starke County — the smallest and lowest-priced of the four — is up 27.1%, ahead of every state on the national list except Connecticut. Both of those counties are at the affordable end.
Porter County, the most expensive of the three core counties at $332,910, has grown the least. The pattern is consistent: the further up the price ladder you go, the more the last four years look like a flat line.
🗺️ ZIP Level — Town by Town
County averages hide a lot. Here is what the ZIP-level Zillow data shows across the towns most of our readers live in.
| Town | ZIP | Typical home value | Since June 2022 | vs. August 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan City | 46360 | $238,970 | +22.7% | +5.1% |
| Hobart | 46342 | $242,429 | +14.1% | +1.1% |
| Valparaiso | 46383 | $349,063 | +10.9% | +2.2% |
| Portage | 46368 | $274,360 | +9.6% | +0.4% |
| Merrillville | 46410 | $245,068 | +8.8% | +1.1% |
| Crown Point | 46307 | $360,704 | +7.8% | +1.7% |
| St. John | 46373 | $458,345 | +5.3% | +1.8% |
Source: Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, 35th–65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, by ZIP code. Data through August 31, 2026; pulled October 12, 2026. Values are the typical home in each ZIP, not an average of sales.
The spread is wide. Michigan City’s typical home is up 22.7% since June 2022 and 5.1% over the past year. St. John’s is up 5.3% and 1.8%. Same region, same rate environment, four times the four-year gain.
Indiana home values are not one market. They are at least a dozen, and the ZIP you live in sets yours.
Portage deserves a straight answer, because it is the one that breaks the pattern: up 9.6% since June 2022, but only 0.4% over the past twelve months. That is effectively flat. If you own in Portage and you have been told the market is running away, your ZIP’s own data does not say that. It says your typical home value is essentially where it was a year ago, about $24,000 above where it was in mid-2022.
Three years of this trend also says something about who benefited. The ZIPs that gained most — Michigan City, Hobart, La Porte — are the lower-priced end of the market. The ZIPs that gained least — St. John, Crown Point, Valparaiso — are the top of it. The appreciation has largely been an entry-level and mid-market story.
⏱️ Supply — the Number That Decides Most of It
None of the above tells you what it costs to buy or sell here right now. This does.
| Area | Median sale price | Months of supply |
|---|---|---|
| Lake County, IN | $280,000 | 2.6 |
| Porter County, IN | $359,700 | 2.3 |
| La Porte County, IN | $262,500 | 2.9 |
| United States (NAR) | $429,100 | 4.9 |
Local data: NIRA MLS FastStats, August 2026. National data: National Association of REALTORS®, August 2026. Three months of supply is the standard balanced-market benchmark.
Our three counties are carrying roughly 2.3 to 2.9 months of supply against 4.9 nationally. That is the environment the appreciation has been running in — not a flood of inventory, but not the extreme shortage the Northeast is working with either. It sits close to the three-month line that has historically marked a balanced market.
💡 What This Means for Buyers and Sellers Here
🔑 If You Are Buying
The state ranking does not set your price — your county’s supply and your ZIP’s trend do. At roughly 2.3 to 2.9 months of supply, this is still a market where well-priced homes move, and where the entry point is materially lower than the national one: $260,095 typical statewide against $368,697 nationally. The year-over-year number is the one to watch. Statewide it is +3.0%. In Valparaiso it is +2.2%. In Portage it is +0.4%. Those are different markets, and they call for different math.
💰 If You Are Selling
Same principle in reverse. The number that matters is not Indiana’s #10 ranking — it is what your ZIP has done over the past twelve months and how many homes are competing with you right now. Porter County is carrying about 30% fewer listings than in 2019, which is thin. Lake County is closer to normal and its inventory fell 9.3% over the past year. And the honest counterweight: Portage is up 0.4% year over year while Michigan City is up 5.1%. Two towns, same metro, materially different last twelve months. Start from your ZIP, not the state.
📚 The Short Version
Indiana home values are up 14.8% since June 2022 — 10th best of 51 states and D.C. — and August 2026 is the highest reading in Zillow’s series back to 2000. That is not a recovery from the 2022 peak; it is a current high. The national gain over the same window is 5.6%, and Arizona is down 8.8%.
In Northwest Indiana, La Porte County led the three core counties at +21.4%, ahead of Lake (+11.9%) and Porter (+11.4%). At the ZIP level, Michigan City is up 22.7% and Portage is up 9.6% with essentially no movement over the past year. And the whole region is carrying 2.3 to 2.9 months of supply against 4.9 nationally.
The chart is real. The local read under it is what decides anything.
Data sources and method. National, state, county and ZIP home value figures are from the Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes — single-family residences, condominiums and co-ops — 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, published at zillow.com/research/data. Data through August 31, 2026; files pulled October 12, 2026. “Since June 2022” compares the June 2022 value to the August 2026 value for each region. For-sale inventory counts are Zillow’s raw (not seasonally adjusted) inventory series for the same period. County supply and median sale price figures are NIRA MLS FastStats for August 2026; national supply and price data are from the National Association of REALTORS®, August 2026. The national state-ranking observation was first published by Nick Gerli of Reventure App on October 9, 2026; the figures in this article were independently reproduced from the underlying Zillow files. This is market analysis for general information, not legal, tax, appraisal or financial advice, and not a prediction. Home values vary by property; a ZIP or county figure is not a valuation of any individual home.
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📚 Related Reading on joshpavich.com
- National Foreclosure Surge: 42% More Homes Seized — What It Means in Northwest Indiana
- Lake County Real Estate Market — August 2026
- Porter County Real Estate Market — August 2026
- LaPorte County Real Estate Market — August 2026
- Months of Supply: 21.3 Hits 18% Above 2008 Peak — What It Means for NWI
- Price Cuts by State 2026: Where NWI Sits in the National Map
- Indiana Ranks Worst in Nation for Foreclosure Rates — February 2026
Frequently Asked Questions About Indiana Home Values
How much have Indiana home values gone up since 2022?
Indiana’s typical home value rose 14.8% between June 2022 and August 2026, according to the Zillow Home Value Index — the 10th-largest gain of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. That took the typical Indiana home from $226,490 to $260,095. The comparable national increase over the same period was 5.6%.
Are Indiana home values still going up in 2026?
Yes, though more slowly. Indiana home values were up 3.0% year over year as of August 2026. August 2026 is also the highest monthly reading in Zillow’s Indiana series going back to January 2000, meaning the state is at a new high rather than recovering from the June 2022 peak.
How do Northwest Indiana counties compare to the rest of the state?
Since June 2022, La Porte County is up 21.4% and Starke County 27.1%, while Lake County is up 11.9% and Porter County 11.4% — per the Zillow Home Value Index through August 2026. The stronger gains have been in the lower-priced counties. At the town level, Michigan City (ZIP 46360) is up 22.7% and Portage (46368) is up 9.6% with only 0.4% growth over the past year.
Is the Northwest Indiana housing market still competitive?
Months of supply was 2.3 in Porter County, 2.6 in Lake County and 2.9 in La Porte County in August 2026, per NIRA MLS FastStats — against 4.9 months nationally as reported by the National Association of REALTORS. Three months is the standard balanced-market benchmark, so the region sits at or slightly below balance while carrying roughly half the national inventory.
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