The Baton Rouge area housing market is forecast to see sales rise by 5.5% in the coming year and prices to increase by 2.9%, according to the new Realtor.com 2017 national forecast.
Of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, Baton Rouge is ranked No. 64 in the forecast for its expected performance next year. The New Orleans metro area is ranked No. 33, with sales forecast to rise by 5.9% and prices to jump by 4%.
Nationally, home sales are forecast to rise by 1.9% to 5.46 million homes, and prices are anticipated to increase 3.9%.
“The 2017 housing market will be a year of slowing, yet moderate growth, set against the backdrop of a changing composition of home buyers and a post-election interest rate jump that could potentially price some first-timers out of the market,” reads a summary of the national forecast.
The Phoenix metro area is expected to be the nation’s top performing housing market next year, according to the forecast, followed by the Los Angeles, Boston, Sacramento and Riverside, California, metro areas.
“We don’t expect the outcome of the election to have a direct impact on the health of the housing market or economy as we close out 2016. However, the 40 basis points increase in rates in the days following the election has caused us to increase our interest rate prediction for next year,” says Realtor.com Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke in a prepared statement. “With more than 95 percent of first-time home buyers dependent on financing their home purchase, and a majority of first-time buyers reporting one or more financial challenges, the uptick we’ve already seen may price some first-timers out of the market.”
See the full forecast and complete rankings.
