Rental Market in South Bend, IN

[Anna Greer]

What is the rental market like in South Bend, IN? Good rental market? What are most properties renting for?

[Account Closed]

@Anna Greer

Welcome to BP and congratulations on jumping into the forums.

The City of South Bend commissioned a study in 2013 named "An Analysis of Residential Market Potential" for  Downtown South Bend. The study was conducted by Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Inc. based in Clinton, New Jersey http://www.zva.cc/ . I wondered why the City of South Bend would hire an out of town company for the study until I looked at their national client list which includes over 450 reports for builders, developers, cities, non-profits, planners, investors, lenders, small companies and development subsidiaries of several Fortune 100 companies.

You can read the report here https://www.southbendin.gov/sites/default/files/fi...

The report is mainly about the residential market potential of downtown South Bend but the gist of it as it relates to your question is that on page 5 it states that approximately 60% of the households in the entire City of South Bend are owner occupied and 40% are tenant occupied.

The US Census Bureau data confirms this with their latest data showing appx 59% owner occupants and 41% tenant occupied here:  https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/...

So to break down the numbers in one line, from the Census Bureau link, the City of South Bend has a population of 101,516, a total of 46,324 housing units (as of the year 2010) of which 18,530 are rentals with a median gross rent of $711.00.

As far as the economic profile, since all those tenants need a job so that they can pay the rent :) here is a cut and paste summary of the area by the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce which you can further explore here: http://www.sjchamber.org/

St. Joseph County, branded the South Bend Region, is located in North Central Indiana, with a population of 267,618 people. The city of South Bend, population 101,190, is the economic and cultural hub of a multi-county, bi-state greater region, population 858,055 (seven counties), with a labor force of 415,426. South Bend also ranks as the fourth largest city in the state and is home to the iconic University of Notre Dame. Neighboring Mishawaka has one of the largest concentrations of retail stores in the state, and the entire region boasts affordable housing, over a dozen institutions of higher learning, easy transportation access and convenient commute times that average 20.2 minutes. Target industries include IT/data, logistics/warehousing and advanced manufacturing.

South Bend being a college town with several Universities/Colleges (Notre Dame obviously being the largest one) creates student housing opportunities for approximately 20,000 plus students among all the institutions.

All this spells opportunity and many out of town, out of state and even international investors have and continue to try and claim their stake.

As indicated by @Immanuel Price and @Aaron Linden the University of Notre Dame in partnership with the City of South Bend has contributed a lot to the revitalization of the City that is bringing new jobs and the need for new housing. As evidence of this,  three years later since the downtown study by Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Inc., construction of residential condominiums, townhomes and apartments.....both new and re-purposing old buildings in and around downtown South Bend has exploded. Here is just one developer at the helm http://matthewsllc.com/ .

The City of Mishawaka which in my opinion is joined to the City of South Bend at the hip has the second largest retail corridor in the entire State of Indiana and a highly desirable school district. However according to the US Census Bureau in the City of Mishawaka, the owner to tenant ratio is approximately 50/50 here http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/1...

To also break down the numbers in one line, from the Census Bureau link, the City of Mishawaka has a population of 48,261, a total of 24,088 housing units (as of the year 2010) of which roughly 12,044 are rentals with a median gross rent of $714.00.

So in summary, in my opinion, this is a strong rental area with stable economic fundamentals to sustain the tenant pool.