By Chris Bavender
When it comes to luxury homes, Carmel is the top market in Indiana for sales, according to the annual RE/MAX INTEGRA Midwest Luxury Report. The report looks at the latest trends in the luxury housing market across Indiana, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
“The national median household income is $55,000. The median household income in Hamilton County is $105,000. Carmel is a very affluent area relative to much of the country with an abundance of land for building luxury homes,” said Bill Mitchell, a broker agent with the Mitchell Group at RE/MAX Ability Plus. “Additionally, Carmel, and most of Hamilton County, for that matter, is known as a family community, meaning the make-up of the household includes two parents, children, a pet, and a lot of time is spent in the home and less time spent on the highways and in the cities after hours.”
The report found that size isn’t a major factor for home buyers. Instead, they want privacy, easy access to highways, open floor plans and amenities such as open theater/game areas, wine cellars and exercise rooms.
“The luxury home buyer is usually someone on the go and wants to be able to control everything with their phone,” said Mitchell, who has the designation of Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist. “They want to be able to leave and control the temperature, the lights, check the security cameras, turn on the oven, you name it.”
The luxury home owner also wants waterfront property, whether at their main home or a second home.
“I do have clients that enjoy the waterfront so much they’re jumping on homes on Lake Clearwater off 86th Street and Lake Stonebridge in Fishers,” Mitchell said. “People are living longer, staying active, and lake living allows them to paddleboard, kayak, fish or just relax to the soothing sounds of the water and leave the stress of the job at the office for a few hours.”
Indiana ranked high on homes selling at or above $500,000. Mitchell said that’s because Hoosiers get a lot of house for the price compared to other parts of the country.
“You can live like royalty here. My kids always asked why we live in Carmel versus other exciting places like Colorado and California,” he said. “I told them one reason was living here allows us to spend less of a percentage of our income on housing and go enjoy those places when we want.”
The report found the most common buyer is a more settled couple, age 35 to 50, with children at home and is an entrepreneur who owns his/her own company, has sold a business or is a CEO with a large company.
