Ascension Parish, LA: New Construction Paradigm Shift

By Don Stern

Real Estate Agent with Realty Executives South Louisiana

May 08, 2010 10:23 AM

Ascension Parish New Construction Paradigm Shift

The data used in this report were extracted from the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors MLS database and represent sales of detached single family homes from January 2005 through April 2010. The data are presumed accurate but are not warranted.

My past few blog posts about the Ascension parish real estate market have referred to a change in the make-up of what buyers of new construction are purchasing. I believe that the next three charts illustrate that paradigm shift. Each vertical line in the charts represents the percent of total unit sales for each of the ranges (price, $/sq.ft. and size) for each month between January 2005 and April 2010 inclusive.

The first of the charts show purchase trends by price range. It clearly shows the recent trend toward homes priced under $200K. In April 2010, homes priced under $200K accounted for nearly 80% of the new construction market in the parish. There were no sales at all for new homes priced over $350K during April.

Between the beginning of 2004 and September of 2007 we can see that homes priced over $130/sq.ft. enjoyed an increasing market share. After that, market share for these homes generally declined. At the same time, sales of new homes priced over $140/sq.ft. have all but disappeared.

The next chart clearly shows that new home buyers have been buying smaller homes. In April 2010, new homes with less than 2000 sq.ft. of living area accounted for more than 90% of the new construction market.