B.R. markets resilient during downturn

The housing market in metro Baton Rouge and Louisiana continued to outperform real estate nationally in 2009. Malcolm Young, president and CEO of Louisiana Realtors, says the average sale price statewide was down 1.6% when compared with 2008, while Baton Rouge prices were down 3.9%. That figure compares quite favorably with a national average drop of 10% in 2009. "We have a good stable market," says Young, who is on a media tour around the state. Young and David McKey, broker/owner of Coldwell Banker One in Baton Rouge and a regional vice president for Louisiana Realtors, attribute the stable market to two factors: There was no major overbuilding in Louisiana, and jobs are still being added all over the state. McKey says home values may have slightly declined in Baton Rouge over the past year due to concerns about the national housing market spilling over locally. But Ascension and Livingston parishes have remained strong markets. Indeed, demand from those markets has gobbled up inventory to the point where the average house was on the market for 87 days in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with 96 days in the year before. McKey and Young say they expect 2010 to be a stronger year than 2009 for the housing market on state and local levels, thanks to record-low interest rates, an improving economy and the continued tax credit for first-time homebuyers.—Timothy Boone