Baton Rouge Residential Real Estate Market "ON FIRE"

Big gains in sales of homes priced at $300,000 and above over the past year have the Greater Baton Rouge residential market "on fire" right now, says Tom Cook, who was among the presenters at today's TRENDS in Real Estate Seminar.

Sales of homes priced above $400,000 saw a particularly significant increase of 55% between March of last year and February, Cook said, while new home sales between $300,000 and $400,000 also rose by 37% over the same time frame.

"Still, the bulk of the market is in the smaller home market," said Cook, of Cook, Moore & Associates, who estimates sales of homes below $300,000 account for approximately 77% of total sales in the market.

Sales of homes priced between $225,00 and $300,000 were up 33% between March of last year and February, while those priced between $100,000 and $225,000 were up just shy of 9%.

Taking a broader look at residential trends, Cook noted the eight-parish Capital Region market represented by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors saw a 15% increase in total number of sales in 2013—which built upon a 14% increase during the year previous. Total sales volume increased 19% last year, while the average sales price rose 3.36% in 2013 and the average number of days a home sat on the market before selling dropped from 123 to 86.

On the multifamily front, average apartment rents increased by about 1.5% during 2013 in the Baton Rouge area, which is in line with increases seen in recent years. Craig Davenport, also of Cook, Moore & Associates, said he expects that rate to continue in 2014.

Still, Ty Gose of NAI/Latter & Blum assured the nearly 700 attendees of today's half-day seminar that the market will be able to absorb the additional apartments and condos. "Based on what the national experts are saying, we're not overbuilding," he says.