After five consecutive months of increasing home sales—including a 10.3% jump in October—Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors Executive Vice President Herb Gomez (right) is ready to say that the market has rebounded.
“It’s a sign that we’re very likely returning to normal,” he says.
The five-month increase reverses five months of year-over-year declines to start 2011, and places this year’s figures on track to eclipse 2010 sales.
A total of 513 homes were sold in the Greater Baton Rouge market in October, compared to 465 a year ago. Year-to-date home sales stood at 5,604 at the end of October, a 1.2% increase over the 5,533 year-to-date sales in 2010.
Whether it’s a return to normal or not, it’s a much rosier picture than at the end of May, when year-to-date sales were down 16%. Gomez doesn’t see numbers skyrocketing through the end of the year, but incrementally increasing into 2012.
“We’ll continue at about the level we’re seeing right now,” he says. “It’s holding fairly steady on our end, and the inspectors who see all of this before we do, they tell me September and October were really busy—the busiest they’ve been all year. That will catch up with us in a month or two.”
