The dynamics of the housing market in metro New Orleans have drastically shifted from the extreme sellers’ market of the past two years. On Thursday, local real estate analyst Arthur Sterbcow joined Tommy Tucker on WWL-First News to talk about what he described as the “dramatic stress” the local housing market is currently under. In contrast to 2021 when interest rates were at historic lows and the inventory of homes for sale was also extremely low, current potential homebuyers have a much larger pool to choose from.
Sterbcow told Tucker listings are up about 50% compared to last November. That’s the good news said Sterbcow. On the other side of the coin, the number of people actively looking to buy a home has dwindled since the extreme cooling down of the housing market over the last 18 months. Sterbcow says the Federal Reserve’s consecutive raising of interest rates has scared off many first-time homebuyers. Sterbcow also raised concerns about the growing number of private insurance companies that have become insolvent or have decided Louisiana is too risky of a market to do business. The net result is home insurance policies have skyrocketed adding to the cost of a home purchase. Sterbcow said the increased interest rates are the bigger hurdle.
“Right now, the cost of getting into the house is probably a real defining factor right now for a lot of first-time home-buyers. So, if I had to say, I’d say it’s interest rates. A very close second is insurance,” said Sterbcow.
