Louisiana housing market stays upright

Local real estate agents tout that the area’s housing market is looking strong as 2014 nears its midway point.

With the Flood Insurance Affordability Act passed, things are expected to just keep getting better and better.

Realtors asked say that 2014 has been a great year, as more and more people are comfortable making purchases on the market. Assuming nothing drastically changes over the summer, the experts tout that the trend will continue without an end anywhere in sight.

That’s good news after a below-average year in the housing market in 2013.

“Our local purchase market is steadily picking up,” said Pam Rodriguez, a loan officer with Movement Mortgage. “This is certainly a very good thing after it had slowed down earlier this year.”

“The market right now in the Tri-parish area is holding steady,” South Coast Real Estate Owner Travis Griffin agreed. “Things are starting to pick up overall due to buyer confidence and availability of listings.”

For the housing market locally, one would assume that our area’s strong economy is the ultimate blessing. But until recent government intervention, people were not buying homes in the area at rates that one might expect.

That’s because of the Biggert-Waters Act-imposed flood insurance hikes that were being funneled from Washington, D.C. – hikes that would have made it near-impossible to own a home in the area. According to the original plans for flood insurance increases, some homeowners would have had to pay up to 10-times more for their insurance – yearly premium increases that had prospective buyers paused.

“At this time last year, we started to see things slow down some,” Rodriguez said. “This had to do with the flood map/flood insurance scare and rate increases.”

But after much discussion, President Barack Obama signed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act in March – a bill that caps insurance premium increases to an average of just a 15 percent hike per year.

At the time of President Obama’s signing of the bill into law, local lawmakers applauded the bill as one that would preserve the future of Louisiana.

“This saves families in our state from being hammered,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., at the time of the bill’s signature. “Our voices have been heard.”

Since the president’s signature, the market has picked up locally as the fears of insurance hikes have eased.

“Now that we’ve gotten a handle on the flood insurance and now that rates have been steady, we are seeing a steady increase in business,” Rodriguez said.

“Compared to last year, the market is fairly consistent, if not slightly better, due in big part to both buyer and seller confidence since the delaying of the proposed flood insurance mandates,” Griffin added.

So with that governmental hurdle out of the way, the hope among those within the industry is that things will continue to stay strong into the future.

Trends suggest that they might.

Griffin said that that he is pleased with what the next 12 months can bring. He said there is a lot of interest in the area right now, and a lot of options for buyers to choose from while shopping.

“We are hopeful that the next 12 months will yield a positive growth both locally and throughout the south Louisiana region,” he said. “Again, both buyer and seller confidence is up, interest rates are still very low compared to the overall scope of interest rate fluctuations throughout the last several years, and there are still a decent amount of inventory available so buyers can have many options to choose from.”

Rodriguez added to Griffin’s statements in agreement. She said that projections she’s seen call for a solid stretch of months going forward.

“My best guess would be that we will continue to see business grow,” she said. “We are projecting a much better second quarter this year, but a phenomenal third quarter.”

That’s good news to Griffin and others in the industry. Now that the concern about the government is out of the way, our area’s strong economy can power through.

“We are located in a very strong area both economically and in regards to job growth and retention,” Griffin said. “And we are looking forward to a very solid upcoming quarter and second half of the year.”

Local real estateFILE PHOTO