Fort Wayne, Ind.— This summer, hundreds of real estate professionals, local elected officials, community and economic development experts, builders and planners will converge on Fort Wayne for the Indiana Association of REALTORS® Metro Housing Summit, June 3-4 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center.
The Summit focuses on regional collaboration among the cities, suburbs and small towns that make up Indiana’s metro areas on issues like housing, quality of life and economic development to attract new residents and employers. According to IAR CEO Mark Fisher, Fort Wayne was a natural choice to host the event.
“Northeast Indiana is known statewide for its success in bringing cities and counties, the business community, government and non-profits together to pursue big goals,” Fisher said. “It’s paid off in solid population growth and one of the state’s strongest housing markets.”
The two-day Metro Housing Summit program features expert presentations on urban residential development and downtown redevelopment, consumer preferences for walkable neighborhoods, tapping into state housing resources and the role REALTORS® can play in regional growth strategies.
The agenda features a number of Northeast Indiana leaders, including John Urbahns of Greater Fort Wayne Inc., Stéphane Frijia of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and Jeff Kingsbury of Ancora/RTM Ventures, lead developer of the Electric Works campus.
Kim Ward of North Eastern Group of Fort Wayne, IAR’s 2024 president-elect, will help lead the Housing Summit program. Terry Miller, a Century 21 Bradley REALTOR® who serves on the Huntington County Council, will also participate as a panelist on local housing issues.
Fisher noted that the UPSTAR area has outperformed statewide sales trends over the past two years, and that sharp sales volume increases in Fort Wayne ZIP codes like 46803 and 46805 this year suggest that redevelopment efforts are driving housing demand along with bringing new visitors and business activity downtown.
“We’re excited to come to Fort Wayne and learn what’s working in metropolitan real estate markets alongside our members in UPSTAR,” Fisher added.
The Metro Housing Summit will also feature a guest presentation from Joe Goode, CEO of American Strategies, the public opinion survey partner for NAR and state and local REALTOR® associations across the country.
Goode’s presentation, ‘Selling and Supporting Walkable Communities,’ tracks a growing homeowner and homebuyer preference for walkability, a willingness to trade lot size for proximity to shopping, recreation and cultural amenities, and even pay a price premium to live in more convenient, connected communities.
No REALTOR® can afford to miss his unique insights on client attitudes and the community attributes that make thriving real estate markets.
Registration for the Metro Housing Summit is only $149, and just $175 for non-members; learn more and register here (or copy and paste https://indianarealtors.com/metro-housing-summit/).
