Quick recovery: The Baton Rouge metro-area housing market is expected to have an early and healthy recovery, a National Association of Homebuilders analyst told the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday. Robert Denk, a staff forecaster for the NAHB, says the area will not only be among the more stable markets expected to recover by late this year, but the NAHB projects it will surpass national housing starts into 2010. The market, boosted by the Katrina effect in 2006-07 while the national housing market dived, has remained stable in the recession. “We’re fairly bullish on the Baton Rouge market,” Denk says. Louisiana’s housing market also is expected to recover by later this year because of stronger economic indicators including lower unemployment, less subprime and ARMs exposure, and stable housing prices. “Louisiana prices are close to historical norms so don’t worry over steep declines,” Denk says.
Wanna buy a golf course?: The new owners of The Bluffs golf course and 256 acres of undeveloped land within the West Feliciana Parish development are putting the properties on the market. Bluffs Air LLC is asking for $6.5 million for the award-winning Arnold Palmer course, along with the clubhouse, pro shop, tennis courts and swimming pools. Bluffs Consulting LLC is asking for $1.75 million for a 118-acre planned unit development and $1.35 million for another 138 acres. The companies are owned by Bobby Waters and Claude Penn, who took over the golf course and the land from Bluffs developer Jim Tanner earlier this month.
Small increase is better than no increase: Baton Rouge area resale home prices increased by 0.64% in January, compared with a year before, according to a new national report. The very slight uptick is better than the 11.6% price drop reported nationwide, says First American CoreLogic’s LoanPerformance Home Price Index. The HPI — which is based on public records sources such as property sales, tax assessments and mortgage filings — has dropped nationally by double digits for 11 consecutive months. Louisiana’s HPI was up 0.1% in January when compared to a year earlier.
