Plans to consolidate operations on site: The St. George Fire Protection District has purchased 8.1 acres of land on Airline Highway and plans to build a training-maintenance-administrative center there. The fire district paid nearly $1.8 million for the land near Barringer Foreman Road, in a deal that closed Friday. The purchase allows St. George to consolidate some of its operations at a single site and improve its training facilities.
Second-consecutive month sales topped 2008: Home sales in metro Baton Rouge were up 4.3% in October compared with the year before. There were 555 houses sold in the area, according to figures obtained today from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. That compares with 532 sales in October 2008. The average sale price was down slightly, from $196,542 in October 2008 to $187,185 last month, showing the continued popularity of the starter-home market. Livingston Parish saw the biggest jump, with the number of houses sold going up 21%, from 85 in October 2008 to 103 last month.
Fewer at risk of losing properties: The number of Louisiana homeowners on the brink of losing their houses dropped nearly 23% in October from the month before, the 11th-biggest plunge out of any state and the District of Columbia. RealtyTrac says that one out of every 1,459 Louisiana households got a foreclosure-related notice, compared with the national average of one per 385 homes. Louisiana ranked 38th for foreclosures out of all states and the District of Columbia.
