Tag Archive for: housing market

A Strong Housing Market Affects Growth in St. Tammany Parish

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St. Tammany Parish is seeing the benefits and struggles of growth as it relates to the strong housing market.  It is projected that the parish population will increase from the current 250,000 to approximately 460,000 by the year 2030. Many fear the growth will lead to a look of “Anywhere U.S.A.” with separate commercial and residential developments.

Not only do experts fear it will lead to a non-aesthetically pleasing look, but it will also lead to horrible traffic problems. St. Tammany is more susceptible to this problem because everyone living in the parish has to drive 4-206 W. Longview Court Wall of Windowseverywhere they want to go. The national average of trips made by people alone in a vehicle is 70% but in St. Tammany, it is 82%.  With the growth and sprawling suburban expansion comes more roads being built, which will only increase the number and length of St. Tammany residents’ trips.

St. Tammany parish government and a company called Greater New Orleans Inc. are working towards a solution to struggles with a growing population.  They sponsored a panel of experts from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), housed in Washington D.C., to study the parish as it relates to future development, land-use strategies and hardiness to flooding and hurricanes.  According to panel Chairman Jim Heid, “the object was to provide objective and unbiased views on land use challenges.”

In a meeting held at the parish government complex north of Mandeville, the concept of a “village in the woods” was most favorable.  This concept brings the residential and commercial land use together through a pedestrian friendly development that focuses on using the natural environment. This will give residents the choices of walking, bicyclingGinger or carpooling to destinations.

The panel recommended the development could potentially be located in the area between Interstate 12 and Louisiana 36 north of Lacombe, including Louisiana 1088 and 454. Fortunately the parish already has several areas to look upon as role models for this “village in the woods” concept. TerraBella located off Bootlegger Road in Covington, the planned development Tamanend, off of Louisiana 434 and downtown Covington already project this concept with their mixed-use development including apartments, single family houses, shops and other businesses.

Stakeholders are supportive of this concept and according to Alan Razak, a member of the panel, “strong political will and some risk taking” will be the only way this vision will come to fruition.  Parish Planning Director Sidney Fontenot sees potential in other areas such as land north of Lacombe where the Northshore Technical Community College project is beginning and the Goodbee area located west of Covington.

To sum it up, the panel recommends that parish leaders update St. Tammany Parish’s comprehensive plan for the future by adding to the land with mixed-use developments. Fontenot states, “I think the next step is at what level do we go from allowing it, encouraging it to mandating it. That’s a major policy discussion for the elected officials in concert with input from the citizens.”

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Good News for the Single-Family Housing Market in New Orleans

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After the devastating blow of Hurricane Katrina, local residents were worried about the recovery and “return” of New Orleans.  Luckily there is good news to report about the recovery of the real estate market from the decade-old storm. The New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors reports home prices are up 46% since Hurricane Katrina, and the average price per-square-foot has jumped up 8.5% in the last six months in the community.  Many predicted that the price growth would slow down this year but that is just not the case.  The single-family housing market in New Orleans is seeing a significant increase in the price per square feet for new homes.

The single-family housing market in the New Orleans metro area has an average selling price of $121 per-square-foot which is an 18.6% increase since the storm. The average house sold for $339,743 in the city between January and June of this year. On the Northshore in St. Tammany Parish there has been a 10% increase since Katrina. The average home in the parish sold for $243,770 this year which calculates out to $113 per-square-foot.

The prediction for this year is to see about 2,800 homes for sale which is close to the 3,300 sales in 2005 before Katrina. Rick Haase, President of Latter & Blum Inc., had expressed concern that household members in New Orleans’ neighborhoods are still worried about affordability in the housing market.  Fortunately he believes this will not be an issue as the mortgage lending standards for credit 176 St. Calais Place Front Exteriorscores are beginning to slacken, making it easier for first time homebuyers to be able to purchase and finance a new or previously owned home.

“Rates are low, job creation is continuing to happen, consumer confidence is high and improving, and the Millennial marketplace, which represents a huge slice of the population in greater New Orleans, is now able to get financing even though they haven’t had a lot of time in life to build their credit scores,” Haase said.

In St. Tammany Parish, not only has the new, masterplanned community of Bedico Creek seen an increase in new home prices, but it has also seen a huge surge in home buying in the 10 available Neighborhoods for sale.  Many home buyers are also delving into the custom home market and are buying lots for sale and then hiring one of the qualified St. Tammany builders of Bedico Creek to build their new home.  If you are interested in acquiring a home in the Greater New Orleans area, Contac Bedico Creek at 985-845-4200 or E-mail Info@LiveBedico.com.

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Housing Market Is on its Way Towards a Full Recovery

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One of the key indicators that the housing market is on its way towards a full recovery post-Recession is house prices.  House prices reached “bubble status” pre-Recession and was the partial cause of the entire crash of the mortgage industry during the crisis because buyers found themselves living in homes with loans that vastly exceededThe housing market nationwide is reporting an increase in prices as well as pending home sales from 2015 to 2014. the appraised value of the home.  House prices must maintain a delicate balance as the ebb and flow of the housing market dictated by new home and existing home buyer supply and demand raises and lowers pricing year-over-year.

The House Price Index (HPI) reported that house prices have been increasing for the last three months as of May, 2015, which had an annual growth rate of 5.4%.  That percentage was higher than April’s increase of 4.7% and March’s increase of 3.8%.  The HPI is issued by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and another report by The Standard and Poor’s/Case-Shiller also showed a slower growth based on a moving three-month average.  This growth in home prices shows a strong demand for new and existing homes from home buyers nationwide.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) also had good news to report about existing homes under contract nationally.  The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) reached a record-high in 9 years in May, 2015, and declined only slightly in June.  This statistic is based on homes with signed contracts as reported to the NAR.  Even with the decline, the PHSI was up 8.2% compared to June, 2014, and the number of homes under contract has been increasing for the last 10 months consecutively.  The Southern Region reflected a 5% increase for the entire year of 2015 for contracts on homes for sale.

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