I’m just going to come right out and say what everything is thinking: What the @#$% is going on with home prices in Orleans Parish? It’s getting crazy out there. I’ve been seeing listings of renovated homes for over $300 per square foot on the edge of Central City.  A “fixer-upper” needing a “total renovation” on the edge of City Park recently hit the market for $700,000. Some of this extravagance is probably the result of wishful thinking on the part of sellers, but it’s substantive as well.  Uptown, the Marigny and the Bywater show the most dramatic increases.  For zip code 70115 in the heart of Uptown, the average price per square foot went from $173 before Katrina to $247 in the first four months of 2014. The Bywater is even worse.  Prices have gone from $75 per square foot before Katrina to $131 today, an increase of nearly 75%. Even less desirable locations in New Orleans have started to match their pre-Katrina values, while more central locations have become absurdly unaffordable.

It’s difficult to see exactly what has precipitated this high-priced market.  There is still a ridiculous number of vacant and blighted properties out there.  Moreover, New Orleans is hardly a wealthy city.  Our economy has improved somewhat, but people generally aren’t flush. Furthermore, stricter Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac rules enacted following the real estate crash of 2008 have restrained the mortgage market.  The freewheeling days of people with bad credit and little income getting huge mortgages is basically over. So who is buying these homes? Blogger Jeff Bostick is as confused as I am. “Every personal story I come across has to do with friends or acquaintances being priced out of neighborhoods not buying into them,” Bostick writes.  “So, who is buying in?” “We can talk about our pet theories of gentrification all day long.  Are the majority of these huge sale prices investment properties? Are they full time homes or vacation rentals?” Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to that. 

It’s difficult to see who is buying these homes, or why they’re paying such high prices. Regardless of where the market for these houses is coming from,  I do fear we’re seeing a local real estate bubble developing.  These prices can’t be sustainable in the long-term.  As of 2012, the median household income for Orleans Parish was $34,361, compared to $44,379 for the metropolitan area and $51,371 for the U.S. as a whole.  Those incomes can’t support this housing market.Among the 300 largest cities in the U.S., New Orleans ranked 4th in terms of the health of the real estate market.  However, it ranked 240th in terms of affordability. Making matters worse is the fact that the overall cost of living has been ever increasing.  While Mayor Landrieu pitches major tax increases, citizens are facing ever-increasing homeowner’s insurance rates.  This means higher mortgages and higher escrow payments to boot. Finally, this all trickles down to the rental market. 

There doesn’t appear to be any ceiling on how high rent can go, and in a city that depends so much on tourism with a sizable employment base in the service industry, one wonders who can afford these excessively high rents. Although I’m a homeowner myself and rising home values certainly benefit me personally, I don’t think the values are real.  Unless we make real headway on improving the local economy, this can’t hold in the long term.  After all, it’s in the nature of bubbles to burst.Ikat Print Duvet CoversHe has previously written for the Reason Public Policy Foundation.Outdoor Furniture Bowen Hills New Homes For Sale Near GentillyPvc Pipe Cat Furniture Orleans Parish Land, Farms, & Ranches Gentilly (GNIS FID: 550504) is a populated place LOCATED WITHIN the City of New Orleans.

In turn, the City of New Orleans is located within Orleans Parish. Gentilly is located at latitude 30.004 and longitude -90.029. The elevation of Gentilly is 7 feet above mean sea level. Since Gentilly is located within the City of New Orleans, all of the census and demographic data for residents of Gentilly are included as part of the information reported for City of New Orleans in the "Data" tab above. In similar fashion, ALL OF THE NAVIGATION TABS ABOVE ARE FOR THE City of New Orleans Community Profile. Cities & Towns | (airports, churches, hospitals, etc.) Data Source - USGS GNIS FID: 550504 BOUNDARY MAPS: City of New Orleans | Couple found high on heroin with child in back seat, authorities say When Katie Paganuzzi and her husband began looking for their starter home, Uptown New Orleans was the neighborhood where they hoped to put down roots. "We loved Uptown!" said Paganuzzi. "We loved the restaurants, the bars, and the shops."But when they searched Uptown, what they found was anything but their dream home.

Watch report"The things in our price range were definitely tear downs or needed construction," said Paganuzzi.Their price range was $250,000 to $350,000, however most homes Uptown, cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars more than that."I thought our budget was good," said Paganuzzi. "I thought it was kind of a lot of money, but when you start looking at houses, you're like, Wow! I've got to double this somehow, but you can't. You don't want to live outside your means."So like many families, the young couple moved out of the Crescent City buying on the Northshore.They found a 1,600-square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-and-a-half bath home in Old Mandeville for $218,000, which was well below their initial budget.The average price per square foot around Old Mandeville is about $120. In Uptown New Orleans, it's more than double that.WDSU compared the real estate market with what the couple paid on the Northshore.For $220,000, WDSU found a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom condo on Napoleon Avenue with 700-square-feet of living space.

Nearby on Magazine Street, there was also a $200,000 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom condo, but with nearly 900 square feet.At $219,000, WDSU also found a 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom condo listed as 850 square feet.Most homes on the market Uptown, Lakeview and Mid-City were listed well above $350,000, with cheaper real estate in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, in New Orleans East, Gentilly and the Ninth Ward.So what's driving up prices?Realtors say it's as simple as supply and demand."On the Northshore, you have a lot of land so you can keep building more subdivisions. There's no land out here so you have what you have," said realtor Angela Murtagh. However, that doesn't mean the high-priced homes aren't selling. Murtagh said because the demand is high, it's forcing potential homebuyers to up their game when looking for a home."I actually put an offer in the other day -- $27,000 over list -- and we lost. There were four other offers," said Murtagh.She said those without the means to up the ante, are being forced to look outside of Orleans Parish to purchase a home."