CollegeAvenueIndy.org noticed an article in the August 22nd IndyStar that ranks Indianapolis as the best city in the Midwest for first time home buyers. According to the article, "Indianapolis has a high inventory of affordable, entry-level homes. And new buyers can expect to spend just 11 percent of their income on their mortgage payment. That beats renters, who can expect to put 26 percent of the income toward rental payments." Wow. That's actually encouraging. So, why the City is building so many massive apartment buildings including the mostly-vacant inventory on Mass Ave, the new mixed-use monstrosity at the northeast corner of Broad Ripple and College and the 100 plus unit apartment complex that Milhaus is planning for the former AT&T site at College Avenue and Kessler Blvd. CollegeAvenueIndy.org questions the logic behind the apartment building craze as well as the passe "urbanism" fad that seems to have arrived in Indy 20 years after it passed through the rest of the country. While we at CollegeAvenueIndy.org do not claim to be economists (ok... some of us actually are economists), we must call attention to the following simple equation: Overstock of Apartments + Overstock of Houses = Huge Housing Overstock. A glut of housing supply will inevitably decrease market rates, erode property values and ultimately diminish property tax revenues for the City. The domino effect will cause the City to raise personal income taxes (note: property taxes are capped) to pay for schools, public services, and infrastructure maintenance and repair (e.g. roads). If Indianapolis continues its current trajectory, all the "hipsters" out there may get their opportunity to experience real urban living. We'll see how cool it is when the apartments are empty, the houses surrounding the apartments are boarded up, and the response time for local police units is measured in hours instead of minutes. Click the link below to see the full IndyStar article.