Many cities in the Midwest struggled with weak economies in 2005, however the city of Indianapolis, true to its car racing spirit, zoomed ahead of the competition with the fastest economic growth in the region. According to the Property & Portfolio Research, a real-estate analysis firm in Boston, the demand for commercial real estate in Indianopolis is growing and job vacances are down in most sectors.

A central location served by by five interstate highways and low costs have helped Indianapolis become a national distribution hub. Commercial property prices in Indianapolis are lower than the national average and the cost of doing business is lower compared to the nearby cities, including Chicago and Cleveland. Plenty of land is available since there are no mountains or hilly regions nearby. Several real estate firms predict that the commercial and residential real estate markets will continue to do well due to these reasons.

According to a report released by C.B.Richard Ellis, a leading real estate firm, a large number of Indianapolis-based small and medium-sized businesses that relocated to larger spaces and the suburbs grew last year. The report forecasts a drop in vacancies in the suburban office market, fresh investments in office buildings, and continued popularity of open-air shopping centers.

The growth trend in the office buildings sector in 2005 is expected to continue further, boosting occupancy rates. Suburban office buildings were highly popular, with 25 percent of them trading hands in ownership or occupancy in 2005. The CB Rihard Ellis report suggests that these trends might result in a modest increase in rents, but not everybody agrees.

For the fifth consecutive year, residential real estate sales also continued to grow in Indianapolis. This was possible because of the low mortgage rates. In its 2006 forecast, CB Richard Ellis forecasts that Indianapolis will continue to see the growth of tenants-in-common investors in multi-family housing units. The company also anticipates a slowdown in single-family home sales, as prices gradually continue to increase.

Indianapolis real estate information and trends can be obtained from local newspapers such as the Indianapolis Star, Marion Country, Daily Journal, Herald Bulletin, Reporter-Times, and Shelbyville News. Online versions of some of these newspapers are also available.