Home sales in Baton Rouge were up 29.1%, to 1,002 units, in August—the latest data available—compared to the same month last year when widespread flooding engulfed the Capital Region and disrupted the real estate sector.
Yet the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors, which produces monthly reports on the metro area’s housing market, warns that data in August and the coming months will be skewed due to the flood.
“The flood exacerbated an already squeezed inventory, forcing people into the market, creating a surge in damaged/renovated homes, and prompting changes in market conditions generally,” GBRAR says in a written commentary. “ … Year over year comparisons will be skewed by the immediate impact of the flood on last year’s numbers.”
As a result, new listings and pending home sales in the region are up 22.8% and 18.5%, respectively. The continued lack of inventory is prompting buyers to move quickly, with the average days-on-market declining to 48 days, down 30.4% from the 69 days one year ago.
Despite the added pressures, the median sales price of homes in the Baton Rouge area has held steady at $191,200. Sellers, the GBRAR notes, are pricing homes for the market.
See the full GBRAR August report and view parish-level data for East Baton Rouge, Ascension and Livingston.
