Find out about the latest news in Madisonville, Louisiana as well as St. Tammany Parish. We will keep you “tuned in” to all of the information about Southeast Louisiana as well as the real estate industry in general. Many new home buyers are concerned about the market, mortgage information, and builder trends. We plan on keeping you as up to date as possible on these and many more topics. There is a lot going on in the Greater New Orleans area, so you will have plenty to read!

Two St. Tammany Parish Schools To Get New Classrooms

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Many of St. Tammany Parish Schools are reporting large increases in enrollment within the past few years. The area is growing and the schools need to have room to accommodate new students. St. Tammany School Board’s Business Affairs & Administrative Committee approved a $14.6 million addition for new classrooms at Mandeville High School and a $13.3 million addition for new classrooms at Madisonville Elementary School.

The money for the projects stems from the $167 million bond issue that was voted in and approved in 2008 for construction cost across the St. Tammany Parish School system. The school board allotted $31.8 million for the addition of new classrooms at the two schools.

At Mandeville High School, Thompson Construction Co. will build a three-story building that will include 40 classrooms. The company will also complete renovations to the gym. The $14.6 million project will take about 2.5 years to complete and will begin this summer.

Madisonville Elementary’s $13.3 million project includes a new two-story building, new gym and an expansion to the existing cafeteria. The project is slated to begin this spring and will take Voelkel McWilliams Construction approximately 2.5 years to complete.

With the surge in enrollment both schools have added modular and portable buildings. Louisiana Department of Education reported that Mandeville High School has the district’s largest student population at 1, 967 and Madisonville Elementary currently has 969 students enrolled. The projects will eliminate a good portion of the modular and portable classroom buildings at each school.

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Roadwork To Begin In St. Tammany Parish

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Those that commute from St. Tammany Parish will be affected by a new project for roadway improvement that started on January 31, 2019. The $1 million dollar project which is part of the $16.4 million capital works budget that will be dedicated to roads and bridges will cover streets in the Covington and Madisonville area.

The road improvement project will include work on Dummyline, Lalanne and Keys road. Work which includes milling, overlaying and repairing will take about 45 days and will span 5 miles of roadway along these three roads.

Detours will take motorists to alternate entrances of Dummyline, Lalanne and Keys road along Louisiana 21 and Louisiana 1077.

“Our primary goal in infrastructure maintenance is to improve the safety and convenience of travel for our residents. Projects like these are an excellent example of taxpayer dollars being invested well,” said Pat Brister, St. Tammany Parish President.

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St. Tammany Parish Schools Thrive Under New State’s Performance Score System

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Louisiana is using a new rating system for school’s performance. The previous student performance metrics included state test results, graduation rates and college credit attainment. The new system will not only base results on the mentioned above but will now include how students progressed from the previous school year.

According to Gary Jones, president of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, , “this year’s results are based on more comprehensive information on student growth and achievement than ever before.”

John White, state Education Superintendent, believes this year’s score is an “important step” in Louisiana’s success in statewide schools. The results will help guide each school’s yearly improvement plan. There are 1,338 schools in the state and St. Tammany Parish maintained a B letter grade in the new system.

St. Tammany Parish School District maintained a B Grade under the new formula which is an 85.2. Within the parish, eleven schools received an A grade. The schools with a grade of A include Mandeville High School with a numerical score of 98.7, Pontchartrain Elementary School with a numerical score of 97.8, Mandeville Junior High School with a numerical score of 97, Fontainebleau High School with a numerical score of 96.6, Northshore High School with a numerical score of 95.5, Pearl River High School with a numerical score of 94.7, Mandeville Elementary School with a numerical score of 94.6, Lakeshore High School with a numerical score of 94.4 and Woodlake Elementary School with a numerical score of 91.5.

The scores are not only important for measuring the school’s progress but also schools can receive extra funds for improvements based on ratings.

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FHA-Backed Loans: Majority of Non-Conventional Financing In 2017

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There are several forms of non-conventional financing including FHA (loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration), VA (loans guaranteed by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs), cash purchases, Rural Housing Service (loans and grants backed by the Single-Family Housing Program), Habitat for Humanity (nonprofit Christian organization funding affordable housing), loans from individuals, and state or local government mortgage-backed bonds.

The 2017 Census Bureau Survey of Construction (SOC) concluded that only 30.8% nationwide financing was non-conventional. The share of non-conventional financing varies across the United States. In the South Atlantic and West South-Central areas of the country non-conventional accounts for 35.4% and in the East North Central it only accounts for 15.5% of new single-family home starts.

FHA-backed loans make up 12.2% of non-conventional financing nationwide making the loans the majority of the non-conventional financing.  In the South Atlantic region FHA made up 19.6%, in the West South Central 13.6%, Pacific 12.8% and New England was the lowest at 0.6%.

Cash purchases made up 9.6% which was the second highest form of non-conventional loans. New England was the highest with 27.3%, Middle Atlantic 15%, East North Central 10.9%, West North Central 10.7%, East South Central 7.9% and South Atlantic only 5.7%. VA-backed loans only accounted for 1% nationwide with the Mountain region being the highest with 13%. Rural Housing Service, Habitat for Humanity, loans from individuals, state or local government mortgage-backed bonds were the highest in West South-Central area at 4.1% and the lowest in New England at 1%.

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Construction Job Openings Increase

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The Great Recession that began in 2007 hit the construction industry hard.  Many jobs were lost and countless construction workers had to change their line of work. Fortunately, since the end of the Great Recession, the amount of open construction jobs has increased.

Access to labor has been a challenge with the high demand for construction workers according to a survey done on the Construction Labor Market. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) predicts the sector net hiring to continue in 2018 as the single-family construction market booms.

The BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and NAHB report that the number of open jobs in the construction sector went from 202,000 in June of 2017 to 263,000 in July of this year. The open position rate which is defined as job openings as a percentage of total employment plus current job openings rose to 3.5% in June from post-recession of 3.1%.

Labor access will continue to be a challenge for 2018 however more jobs equals more opportunities.

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New Construction Homes Are High in Demand

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The National Home Builders Association reported that the number of owner households has been rising since the third quarter of 2016. New construction homes are rising in demand.

This demand comes from the slow gain of new residential construction over the past decade. This can be seen in the change of the median age of owner-occupied homes.  The latest data released in the 2016 American Community Survey reports the median age is 37 years compared to a median age of 31 years in 2005.

The decrease in new construction stemmed from many factors.  The remodeling market was encouraged over the purchase of new homes in the past.  One of the reasons was rising home prices that encouraged homeowners to remodel their current home. More than half of owner-occupied homes were built before 1980 in the 2016 report.  New Construction accounted for only 4 % of owner-occupied housing in 2016.

The future for new construction homes is bright. This can be seen in the households living in different ages of house stock. Out of the homes built after 2010 70% are owned by Generation X(age 35 – 54) and Millennials (age 18 – 34). Within this age range, homeowners who are between 35-44 make up 26%, age 45-54 make up 19% and under 35 makeup 25%.

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