A new report says Baton Rouge and other metro areas in Louisiana are at “minimal” risk to have lower home prices at the end of 2010. That puts them in the safest category in the PMI Mortgage Insurance Economic and Real Estate Trends Report. The risk for Baton Rouge went up from a 2.5% chance of lower home prices in two years during the third quarter of 2008 to 8.4% during the fourth quarter, due to a small drop in home prices and a rise in unemployment.
Alexandria (6.3%), New Orleans (4.4%), Monroe (4.1%), Shreveport/Bossier City (2.7%), Houma/Thibodaux (1.9%), Lake Charles (1.8%) and Lafayette (less than 1%) were all rated at a lower risk than Baton Rouge. Nine metro areas were rated as having a 99.9% risk of seeing lower home prices by the end of 2010, including Los Angeles, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
