This will be the 40th spring fair in Slidell.
Olde Towne Slidell Antique Spring Street Fair
First, Second & Erlanger Streets
Olde Towne Slidell, LA
March 27, 2021
10am – 5pm
Tickets: Free
Click Here for More Information.
Always held on the last Saturday in March in Abita Springs.
Whole Town Garage
Throughout Abita Springs
22161 Level St.
Abita Springs, LA 70420
March 27, 2021
7 am – 3 pm
The theme this year is “healin’ through wheelin” in Mandeville.
Tour de Lis Louisiana Ride/Hike Race
Fontainebleau State Park
62883 Highway 1089
Mandeville, LA 70448
March 27, 2021
8:00 am
Price: Spectators: $3 park entry fee; Participants: $10-200 Individual and Group Rates
Click Here for More Information.
The current housing market is strong and new construction homes are in demand. In fact, builder confidence is on the side of new construction as sales have blown expectations. The new construction interest is stemmed from a shortage of listings and record low mortgage rates.
Zillow New Construction Consumer Housing Trends Report 2020 shows that almost half of those who purchased a newly built home in the past two years only looked at new construction. For the 40% who would only look at new construction, the other 60% did consider purchasing an existing home.
Last year not only brought confusion with a global pandemic but also hindered materials, shipping and timelines in new construction. The report revealed that 80% of those who purchased new construction found some part of the purchase process challenging.
Demographics played a big part in the data shown of those who struggled with purchasing new construction. Close to 45% of new construction buyers were under the age of 40 and out of those 70% purchased their first home.
Fair price also was one of the top challenges. Last year 30% said that a fair price was a challenge while this year 37% express issues with fair pricing. Prices are hard to gauge because of the shortage of inventory. There are not enough sales to compare pricing.
Thirty-six percent of home buyers were concerned with the sale of their current home with the completion of their new home. Thirty-five percent admitted they are overwhelmed and doubt some of the processing of building and purchasing a new home.
Using a Realtor can help overcome these challenges. A Realtor can help with communication between the builder and buyer. Fifty-one percent of those purchasing a new construction home asked their Realtor to handle communications with the builder. A Realtor can educate buyers regarding financing and pricing and help buyers with timelines and delays. A Realtor can make purchasing a new construction home a breeze.
We might have had a rough 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic and strict stay-at-home orders but the housing market showed no sign of slowing down. The National Association of Home Builders reported a great ending to 2020 for Single-Family Permits. According to the United States Census Building Permits Survey, a total of 977,863 single-family permits were issued year-to-date in the country in 2020. This is a 14.5% increase on a year-over-year basis from December 2019 which reported 854,158.
The chart shows the amounts for each region. The South had the strongest with a 16.9% increase, Midwest followed with a 13.1% increase,
the Northwest had an 11.6% increase and the West showed a 10.5% increase for 2020. Muli-family numbers were all on the decline in all four regions. The worst was the Northeast with a -11.1% decline, followed by the South with a -9.2% decline, the West declined -8.2% and the Midwest -1.2%.
Vermont had the highest rate of growth in single-family permits from 882 in 2019 to 1,285 in 2020. This was a 45.7% increase YTD. Forty-five states all showed an increase while the District of Columbia and five states showed a decline. The top 10 states accounted for 61.5% of the total single-family permits issued in 2020.
At the local level, below are top 10 metro areas that issued the highest number of single-family permits.
| Metropolitan Statistical Area | Single-family Permits: Dec (Units #YTD, NSA) |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 48,208 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 43,884 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 31,724 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 28,057 |
| Austin-Round Rock, TX | 21,653 |
| Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC | 17,807 |
| Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 16,028 |
| Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 15,523 |
| Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN | 14,125 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 13,594 |
For multifamily permits, below are the top 10 local areas that issued the highest number of permits:
| Metropolitan Statistical Area | Multifamily Permits: Dec (Units #YTD, NSA) |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 42,739 |
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 20,207 |
| Austin-Round Rock, TX | 19,222 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 17,494 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 16,178 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 14,894 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 14,752 |
| Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 14,034 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 11,515 |
| Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN | 11,404 |
A drama-filled play live in Slidell.
Love Letters
Cutting Edge Theater
767 Robert Blvd
Slidell, LA 70458
March 26 – April 10, 2021
Every Friday and Saturday
8pm
Ticket price $27 – $45.
Click Here for More Information!
