More homes being rented in Fishers; mayor finds trend concerning

FISHERS — As housing prices remain high, more single-family homes are becoming rental properties — a trend that Fishers mayor Scott Fadness says his city is seeing as well.

According to a recent housing analysis that was presented to the Fishers City Council, an increasing number of out-of-town investors and national rental companies are managing rental units in fishers.

Nearly 30% of all rental units in the city are single-family homes, according to the analysis.

Fadness is concerned because he says out-of-state investors don't hold the same interest in the community as homeowners who live in the community.

"Oftentimes these people who own these homes from the east coast to the west coast don't care whether they are maintained or not. They just want people to pay their rent and then they will sell the asset at some point and not really take care of the home in the way that I think most residents would want to see who have invested right next to it," said Fadness.

Fadness said the city does still collect property tax revenue from rental properties, and sometimes more than homeowners. However, he doesn’t think adding more rental properties is healthy for the average Fishers resident.

"There is obviously always a quicker way and easier way to make a dollar,” said Fadness. “That doesn't mean it's always necessarily in the best interest of the residents of today or the residents of tomorrow. So we need to be longer-term thinkers and strategic thinkers and that's really our approach and our issue with this trend. “

Fadness said the first course of action is to work with homeowners associations to limit the number of rental properties that are allowed in neighborhoods and subdivisions.

He hopes this will curb the number of out-of-state investors renting local properties.