Blog Entry 10/30/2007:

Greater Baton Rouge Area home sales slowing down

The trend of decreasing home sales has hit Baton Rouge. September home sales were down 22% across the Capital Region, according to figures from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. The biggest drop was in Livingston Parish, where 105 homes were sold in September, compared with 148 in the previous year. Through the first nine months of the year, sales were down 13% to 7,532 homes sold. That compares with the 8,681 that were sold through September 2006. Local real estate experts say they’ve noticed the slowdown in business. Mary Garner DeVoe, a team leader for Keller Williams Realty as well as operating principal for the firm’s Zachary office, says the declining sales are a result of “inaccurate pricing” instead of a sluggish economy or a depressed housing market. “The Katrina effect is winding down,” she says. DeVoe says it’s difficult to find houses in East Baton Rouge Parish for less than $200,000 or in the $250,000 to $350,000. But there’s a glut of houses priced at more than $500,000, especially in Ascension Parish. The markets where home prices have remained steady are seeing activity, she says. One Keller Williams agent recently closed on 39 lots in Brusly. “All of the lots were presold,” DeVoe says. “There’s a good niche there for houses under $185,000.” The stats seem to back her up. According to the MLS, there were 116 houses sold in August and September in West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, compared with 118 in the year before. –Timothy Boone, Baton Rouge Business Report

William D. Cobb, Accurate Valuations Group Appraiser, has operated as a home appraiser for 15 years now primarily in the Greater Baton Rouge, Louisiana market. For more information on Accurate Valuations Home Appraisal Group, visit FHA Appraisers in East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension & Livingston Parishes