Baton Rouge-area home sales were 7.4% lower in August than the year before as real estate activity dropped across the board.
There were 970 homes sold in metro Baton Rouge during August, according to figures released Tuesday by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service. That compares with 1,047 Multiple Listing Service sales in the nine-parish region during August 2017.
Through the first eight months of the year, home sales are down by 5% to 7,416 from 7,806.
While monthly sales were down slightly in East Baton Rouge Parish, both Ascension and Livingston parishes saw double-digit decreases in sales activity.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, which accounts for the largest segment of the local housing market, there were 555 MLS sales, 2.3% fewer than the 568 sales a year earlier.
Ascension Parish saw a 10.5% sales decrease to 170 from 190.
Livingston Parish sales fell even further, going down 13% to 160 from 184.
Ascension has seen the smallest decrease year-to-date, dropping 0.8% to 1,341 from 1,352. East Baton Rouge was down 6.6% to 3,998, while Livingston dropped by 5.7% to 1,369.
In addition to the number of homes sold dropping for August, prices and inventory continued to rise. The median sale price for a home in metro Baton Rouge was $200,900, a 5.6% increase over the $190,265 in August 2017. That means half the homes sold in the market went for below that price, half for above that price.
The average sale price rose by a similar amount, 5.7% to $233,504 from $220,994. The average sale price can be affected by luxury home sales.
There were 4,294 homes for sale in metro Baton Rouge during August, a 16.8% increase from the year before.
Pending sales, an indicator of future activity, dropped 2.6% in August to 946 from 971. New listings were virtually unchanged at 1,400 compared to 1,404 the year before.
The supply of houses for sale increased from 3.8 months to 4.8. Six months is considered to be a healthy supply of homes.
The number of days a house was on the market before it sold was up from 48 to 60.
