The number of homes sold in metro Baton Rouge, La., was 11.2% higher in August than the year before, continuing a hot streak triggered by low interest rates.
There were 1,145 homes sold in August, according to figures released Tuesday by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors' Multiple Listing Service, up from 1,030 sales in August 2019. This was the third month in a row sales outstripped 2019 figures by double digits, coming off pandemic-related downturns during March and April.
A big gain in Ascension Parish boosted the numbers. There were 233 MLS sales in the parish during August, a 27.3% increase from the year before, when there were 183 sales.
Livingston Parish had a 10% increase in MLS sales to 220 homes changing hands from 200 a year earlier. East Baton Rouge had a 5.5% increase to 575 MLS sales from 545 sales.
The median sales price for a home was $225,000 in August, meaning that half of the homes sold for less than that price, half sold for more. That's an 8.4% gain over the median sales price in August 2019, which was $207,500.
Pending sales, a sign of future activity, were up 12.9% in August to 1,162 from 1,029 in August 2019.
Inventory was down 30.6% to 3,227 homes from 4,650 homes in August 2019. The number of days a home was on the market before it was sold increased to 70 from 69 the year before.
Through the first eight months of the year, 7,892 homes have been sold in metro Baton Rouge, up from 7,535 MLS sales through August 2019. Livingston is up 11.1% to 1,606 MLS sales from 1,445 for the first eight months of 2019. Ascension is up 4% from 1,390 sales to 1,446. East Baton Rouge has increased by 3.2% from 3,960 to 4,086.
