BR Realtors: What mortgage crisis?
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Mayor-President Kip Holden and a group of real estate agents, lenders and title attorneys showed a united front in a morning press conference, saying Baton Rouge’s real estate market remains strong and lending opportunities are robust.
“We don’t want to be lumped in with the rest of the nation,” Holden said. “Baton Rouge is still thriving and is a city on the move.”
While painting a picture of a rosier local economy than the nation as a whole, real estate leaders did acknowledge a recent slump in the sales of houses — which have fallen this year to about 2003 levels — and they said the impact of Hurricane Gustav in September and fears of a national recession and credit crisis have hindered the greater Baton Rouge market. In September, Gustav shut down business for days and contributed to an unusually large inventory of houses on the market, a 12.5-month supply.
That supply dropped to nine months in October, and Linda Fredericks of Re/Max First, who’s also president of the Greater Baton Rouge Realtors Association, said the supply is moving to a healthy seven-month supply. Sales in October were down 25 percent in total volume from a year ago, but the average sale price actually rose by nearly 2 percent in October, the most recent month for which records are available. Agents said people are still looking at houses but there are many misconceptions about the credit market.
“There is no mortgage crisis in the state of Louisiana, especially East Baton Rouge,” said Mike Anderson of the Louisiana Mortgage Lenders Association, citing available Federal Housing Association loans at 5.5 percent interest with as little as 3 percent down and a credit score of at least 580, which is considered below average.
“We want people to know the truth; we’re not putting any spins on anything,” said Fredericks. “We want people to know the facts.”
To combat what they view as unjustified fears of homebuying in the current Baton Rouge area market, Holden and the Realtors wore red buttons reading, “We believe in Baton Rouge! What Mortgage Crisis?”
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