Here's my read on what got permitted around Indianapolis in September 2026. Every number comes from our four monthly reports as delivered: New Homes, Commercial, Remodel and Pool. One thing to know before comparing months: September is the first month that includes Madison County (Anderson, Pendleton and the rest of the county report), so a few small towns show up for the first time.
The headline numbers
| Report | Aug 2026 | Sept 2026 | Sept median value |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Homes | 656 | 543 | $387,000 |
| Commercial | 311 | 241 | $292,505 |
| Remodel | 563 | 587 | $50,000 |
| Pool | 85 | 84 | $100,000 |
| Total | 1,615 | 1,455 |
Permit counts as delivered each month. Medians are over permits that list a declared value.
New homes and commercial were down from August, while remodels went up. Towns report on their own schedules, though, so I wouldn't call one month's drop a trend.
New homes: 543 permits
Indianapolis led with 134, followed by Westfield (83), Noblesville (59), Whitestown (34), Zionsville (33), Avon (28), Brownsburg (21) and Bargersville (20).
The money tells a different story than the counts. The metro median declared value was $387,000. In Zionsville it was $1,184,399; in Bargersville, $593,000; in Avon, $502,000; in Westfield, $395,000; and in Indianapolis, $205,000. Forty-eight permits declared $1 million or more.
Who's building: Pulte pulled 58 permits (filed under two names), Lennar 49, D.R. Horton 36, Arbor Homes 32, M/I Homes 32 and Olthof Homes 22. Together that's 229 of the 543. The rest came from a long tail of smaller builders, and about two in three of the builders named pulled a single permit.
Where the lots are: the busiest subdivisions were Atwater in Westfield (19 permits), Trailside in Whitestown (15), Sawyer Walk in Bargersville (14), Midland in Westfield (12), and Kimblewick in Westfield and Peabody Farms East in Whitestown (9 each).
Commercial: 241 permits, a few very big ones
Indianapolis had 108 commercial permits, Noblesville 49, Carmel 21, Avon 17 and Zionsville 15. The 206 permits that listed a value declared a little over $370 million in total, and 64 of them were $1 million or more.
The largest: a $64 million non-residential building permit in Indianapolis, a $61 million multi-family permit in Westfield, a $23 million commercial remodel in Carmel, a $19.5 million new structure in Brownsburg and an $11 million water treatment building in Greenwood.
Multi-family was concentrated: of the 29 multi-family permits in the commercial file, 11 were in Avon and 10 in Noblesville.
Remodel: 587 permits, up from August
Remodels were the one category that grew, from 563 to 587. Indianapolis had 262, then Noblesville (67), Carmel (46), Fishers (41), Zionsville (35) and Greenwood (23). The median declared value was $50,000, up from $47,000 in August, and 131 of the 450 remodels that listed a value were $100,000 or more.
Pool: 84 permits, holding steady
Pool permits barely moved: 84 against 85 in August. Indianapolis had 17, Carmel 13, Zionsville 11, Westfield 9, Greenwood 7 and Noblesville 6. The median declared value was $100,000. Every one of those is a backyard that will need fencing, a patio, landscaping and someone to service the pool.
What I'd do with this
- Selling to new homes? Hamilton County's growth towns (Westfield and Noblesville) and the towns northwest and west of the city (Whitestown, Avon, Brownsburg) are where the subdivisions are. Get on the trade lists for the communities that keep showing up.
- High-end trades? Zionsville and Bargersville are where the expensive houses are being permitted.
- Remodel contractors? Volume is in Indianapolis, but the $100,000-plus jobs are worth sorting out on their own.
- Commercial subs? 64 projects at $1 million or more is a lot of work that hasn't finished staffing.
For a town-by-town view, the permit pages by city list the active builders in each town. If you're new to this, start with how to find new construction leads in Indianapolis.