‘Business Report’: Baton Rouge’s 10 most expensive home sales of 2012

If 2012 was not a banner year for high-end home sales in Baton Rouge, it was the best local realtors have seen in a while. There was movement in the $2 million-plus segment of the market for the first time since 2010. Also, the last few months of the year were some of the busiest local realtors who list and sell top-dollar properties can remember in recent years. Even the traditionally slow holiday season saw a flurry of activity. On the surface, at least, it’s a good sign. Experts say it suggests the economy is recovering and that 2013 will continue to show signs of improvement. “It tells me that the upper-end segment of the market is really picking up,” says Quita Cutrer of Burns & Co., who handled several of the top 10 sales in Baton Rouge last year, including a $2.5 million sale in Bocage, a $2 million sale in the Country Club of Louisiana, and a $2.5 million purchase agreement in CCL that was signed in December but has not yet closed. “We haven’t seen this level of activity in a while.” But Cutrer also characterizes 2012 as one of the most challenging years in her nearly four-decade career, a lament others echo. Buyers want deals. Sellers want top dollar. Read the full cover story of the new issue of Business Report and get details on the area’s 10 most expensive home sales of the year here. Also, check out coverage of the Capital Region’s 10 biggest non-residential deals that were done during 2012 here.