Baton Rouge Leads the Charge in Housing Industry Recovery Numbers
When averaged across 350 metro markets, the Leading Markets Index (LMI) rates the recovery of the housing industry nationwide to be approximately 85% of normal activity level, which would be a comparison of number pre-Recession. The LMI was established to keep track of the real estate industry’s interests by ensuring that the recovery is moving forward, even at a slow pace, and does not stagnate. 350 small metro markets have been monitored and then evaluated for three different factors: average number of permits, average home prices, and employment numbers. These numbers are pulled and compared to the following:
- Average number of permits in the metro area during the last years of normalcy, which the LMI says were the years 2000-2003.
- Home prices in the metro area during the last years of normalcy – 2000 – 2003.
- Employment numbers from 2007.
These numbers are then averaged together from the pre-Recession numbers and the post-Recession numbers, and the results have been positive across the board. 52 small metro areas have housing activity levels that either equal or exceed the amount of activity before the Recession. This means that instead of leveling off, the real estate industry is actually on an upward trend. Baton Rouge, Louisiana leads the way with a 41% increase in housing activity since before the Recession. Other small metro areas such as Honolulu, Oklahoma City, Austin and Houston, Texas, and Harrisburg, PA have also exceeded their “normal” activity levels pre-Recession.
In St. Tammany Parish, builders, Realtors, and home buyers felt the effects of the Recession, but this area did not seem to “suffer” as long in the mire of the real estate market decline. Numbers in St. Tammany Parish were actually on the rise in 2011, and this year, the parish is on its way to exceeding building permit numbers from 2012. Recoveries across the United States will occur faster or slower depending upon which part of the country you reside. If you are living in St. Tammany Parish and have an interest in buying a home or a lot for sale, you should definitely be actively searching for your perfect subdivision because homes and lots here are “flying off the shelves!” To find out more about the homes and lots for sale at Bedico Creek Preserve, call 985-845-4200 or e-mail [email protected].
