Fewer people are buying homes in Acadiana. So why are prices still so high?

Home sales in Acadiana have generally declined over the last several months, but prices have stayed high despite the falling demand, data from Bill Bacque at Market Scope Consulting shows.

In April, the Acadiana region had around 458 closed home sales – around 21.6% less than it did in April 2022, Bacque’s data shows. Bacque's report includes year-over-year and year-to-date numbers for Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, Acadia, Iberia, Vermilion and Evangeline parishes.

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On the year, the region’s total sales sit around 1,590 through April, a decline of more than 28% from the same period in 2022. But despite the significant drop in demand, the average sale price has not seen the same type of decline.

Bacque said in his latest report that the region is still not seeing new homes go onto the market, which is preventing the region’s market from getting back into balance.

“New residential listings remain the biggest challenge to achieving equilibrium in our residential marketplace,” Bacque said. “The 566 new listings reported from throughout Acadiana in April is the lowest number for April since 2012. New listings for April were down 18.8% from a year ago. Outside Lafayette Parish, new listings for April were down by 23.7%. and down 12.5% from March.”

In 2023, the region has 2,213 new listings. Compared to the first four months of 2022, new listings are down by 16.9%. Lafayette Parish – which has 1,258 new listings this year – has seen a 23.8% drop from last year.

As a result of the lack of new inventory, home prices have remained high, even as demand has dropped. Still, the region has seen its supply rebound a little over the last year.

The months supply for Acadiana, which is the number of months it would take a market to run out of homes for sale if no new homes were added, sits around 3.4 through April. At this point last year, the months supply was 1.7.

Typically, a months supply below five is considered a sellers' market, meaning there is a shortage of homes that is driving up prices. A mark above six usually is a buyers' market, meaning there is a surplus of homes and a lack of buyers, lowering prices. A mark between five and six usually means a balanced market.

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Lafayette Parish’s months supply was around 2.9 through April, up from 1.2 at the same time last year.

For home sales that closed in April 2023, the average price was around $248,367 for the region. The price has declined in recent months – around $7,000 or 2.7% since February 2023 – but it’s still up by around $57,000 or 29.8% since before the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting Louisiana.

In Acadiana, closed home sales peaked in June 2021 with 763, but the average sale price continued to rise over the next year, peaking at $270,095 in May 2022. The same has largely been true for pending sales, which peaked in March 2021 with 750. The average price for those sales peaked a year later in July 2022 at $268,624.

Lafayette Parish was in the same boat. The number of closed sales peaked in June 2021 with 486, but the average price rose until peaking at $312,559 in August 2022. The number of pending sales peaked in March 2021 with 520, and average prices rose until July 2022 at $316,934.