If 2014 wasn’t the best year for high-end home sales in recent memory, it was certainly one of the better ones. Local real estate agents who handle the parish’s top-dollar properties tell Business Report for its annual look at the area’s top 10 most expensive home sales that business was brisk last year, prices were up and homes with seven-digit price tags didn’t linger on the market for long.
Of the top 10 home sales last year in East Baton Rouge Parish, Business Report notes in its new cover package, three exceeded $2 million, and none was less than $1.4 million. The average price per square foot ranged between $200 and $350 and, in most cases, the sale price came within 3% or less of the list price.
“It was a good year,” says Quita Cutrer of Burns and Company, who handled several of the top 10 sales. “We did well. My numbers were good—but it wasn’t easy putting deals together.”
One dynamic that made 2014 challenging, according to Cutrer and others, was an unrealistic expectation among buyers. This is still a seller’s market and buyers looking for bargains in the high-end home market were likely to come away disappointed.
“People are still looking for deals,” Cutrer says. “They’re still negotiating and they want to negotiate everything and it takes a long time because of all the back-and-forth.”
Also noteworthy in 2014 was the relative lack of sales in Country Club of Louisiana, which is, arguably, Baton Rouge’s highest-priced neighborhood. In years past, CCL has claimed as many as half of the top 10 home sales. In 2014, just one home on the list was in CCL, a fact attributed both to a lack of inventory on the market and also the subdivision’s age.
“Those houses were built in the 1980s and 1990s so they’re dated and a lot of buyers want new construction,” says Donna Wolff of Re/Max Professional and Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors president. “Condition of the house is very, very important.”
As for the hottest area for high-end homes in 2014, Bocage and Bocage Lake top the list. Highland Road also saw several high-priced home sales. In fact, the top two deals in 2014 were for the same Highland Road mansion. It sold in August then again in October, after the first buyer had a change of plans. That it sold so quickly the second time is telling, Cutrer says.
“A good home in a good location that is well-priced is going to sell fast,” she says.
Check out the new Business Report cover package on last year’s 10 most expensive home sales, and also be sure to see the magazine’s coverage of last year’s top commercial real estate deals and the top business deals of 2014.
