Michiana Housing Market Report — January 2026
Michiana entered 2026 as a market defined by scarcity. Active inventory was down sharply across the core towns — South Bend listings off 17.9% from a year earlier, Elkhart off 16.4%, Niles off 16.7% — while values ground steadily higher: the typical St. Joseph County home stood at $226,484 (+3.8% year over year) and Berrien County at $276,050 (+2.8%). Home-value data runs through December 2025; closed sales through November 2025.
The winter picture
- South Bend — a $171,500 median sale price, up a striking 25.2% year over year. Winter months close few homes, so a number that hot deserves caution — but paired with just 20 median days on market and a quarter fewer listings, the direction was unambiguous: demand outrunning supply.
- Mishawaka — $195,000 median (+7.8%), 29 days on market, inventory down 5.4%.
- Elkhart — $183,500 median (+6.7%), 21 days on market — the corridor's fast lane even in the cold months.
- Granger — $392,000 median (+8.9%) and 30 days on market; notably, Granger was the one core market where inventory rose (+8.1%), an early hint of the listing wave that would define its spring.
- Niles — $164,100 median (+10.9%) on thin volume; the border-value story intact.
Rates
The 30-year fixed averaged 6.10% in January and was drifting down — the region entered the year with the friendliest borrowing costs in months, one reason winter buyers kept showing up.
What to watch
Whether sub-6% mortgage rates arrive and unlock spring listings, and whether Granger's inventory uptick is noise or the start of something.
Sources: Zillow Research (home values), Redfin Data Center (sales), FRED / Freddie Mac (rates). Methodology on the About page.
Archive edition: compiled retrospectively from current (revised) Zillow, Redfin, and FRED source data for this month.
Town-by-town data
| Town | Typical home value | YoY | 5-yr trend | Median sale price | Days on mkt | Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Bend, IN | $194K | +4.1% | $172K | 20 | 257 | |
| Mishawaka, IN | $210K | +2.4% | $195K | 29 | 88 | |
| Elkhart, IN | $226K | +5.4% | $184K | 21 | 92 | |
| Granger, IN | $418K | +4.6% | $392K | 30 | 67 | |
| Niles, MI | $207K | +1.6% | $164K | 38 | 30 | |
| Goshen, IN | $279K | +4.8% | $240K | 23 | 44 | |
| Michigan City, IN | $191K | +3.1% | $230K | 31 | 119 | |
| La Porte, IN | $277K | +4.1% | $195K | 61 | 63 | |
| St. Joseph, MI | $335K | +2.4% | $432K | 55 | 39 | |
| Benton Harbor, MI | $155K | -0.1% | $155K | 7 | 35 | |
| New Buffalo, MI | $655K | +6.4% | $1.14M | 111 | 25 | |
| Three Oaks, MI | $329K | +5.4% | $186K | 85 | 16 | |
| Dowagiac, MI | $225K | +4.5% | $156K | 27 | 18 | |
| Edwardsburg, MI | $307K | +3.6% | $368K | 73 | 4 | |
| Osceola, IN | $290K | +3.7% | $138K | 92 | 10 | |
| Nappanee, IN | $296K | +6.2% | $260K | 48 | 9 | |
| Middlebury, IN | $381K | +6.9% | $272K | 9 | 7 | |
| Bremen, IN | $279K | +4.0% | $260K | 52 | 5 | |
| Plymouth, IN | $242K | +3.4% | $180K | 25 | 9 | |
| Warsaw, IN | $276K | +2.2% | $227K | 33 | 47 |