March 2021 Housing Market Update

We've already started to wrap up the first quarter in the year 2021! I hope that you and your family have been able to continue to stay safe and healthy throughout the ongoing coronavirus pandemic! March is generally when the real estate market kicks into high gear, but with the way that things have been this last year, we might have to take it to a new level we haven't been to before.

If you've been following my monthly market reports, back in February, I predicted that at the beginning of March we would likely be below 2000 houses available for sale on the market. Let's see if that theory rang true!
   

Number of Home Available for Sale Comparision          

We just made it under the 2000 home mark as far as the number of houses that are available at the end of the month of February 2021. The graph above shows that the entire MLS has 1960 homes total available, with East Baton Rouge Parish having the majority of them with a total of 1099 houses for sale. Ascension and Livingston Parish ended the month of February with 264 & 267 homes available in each parish respectively. In this market environment, it's crucial to be decisive about what your goals and desires are. Every month we're seemingly hitting a new record low on the number of homes available for sale.
 

Months Supply of Homes for Sale

 

The Greater Baton Rouge real estate market is very similar to most areas around the country with an extremely low level of housing inventory. One of the best indicators that top REALTORS® use to determine if we are leaning towards a buyer or seller market is on the chart above. Each of our local areas is still trending at or below two months of inventory, which is a heavy lean towards a seller market. Both Ascension and Livingston Parish are still showing below 1.5 months worth of inventory at 1.3 and 1.2 months respectively. What that means is that if there weren't any new homes added to the market for sale, the month's supply tells you how long it would take for each home currently on the market to sell. In a balanced market, we'd like to see these numbers somewhere in between about 3.5 - 5 months of inventory in this market. I showed a five-year comparison so you can continue to see the trends of the market over a respectable amount of time. 


To close out this month's market update, I wanted to give you an idea of what you can expect to pay per square foot in our primary three parish area and the entire Multiple Listing Serice (MLS). The chart below shows each area's cost so that you can have an idea of how much home that you are going to get if you are trying to find out what size home will fit within your budget. I also gave a ten-year spread of numbers for you to recognize how much the price per square foot has gone up on a year-to-year basis if you wanted to compare what you may have paid if you bought your home five or ten years ago compared to the prices today.
 

Average Price Per Square Foot

As always, I want to make you aware that I've created a special website section where you can view interactive charts of historical data for the Greater Baton Rouge real estate market! I'm continuously striving to raise the bar for REALTORS® by providing quality communication, great customer service, combined with valuable information, data, and statistics for anyone who needs it! The charts and graphs in our Market Data Center are always live and updated automatically monthly. You can see the real stats for what's going on in the Greater Baton Rouge real estate market and not just take someone's word for it! You can check out the data and see what's going on in your area by clicking the button below!


Please wear your mask and stay safe,
Rinaldi Jacobs Jr., e-PRO®, PSA
REALTOR® & Marketing eXpert
eXp Realty, LLC
2900 Westfork Dr, Ste 401
Baton Rouge, LA 70827
Office: 225-412-9982 ext 151
Direct: 225-330-7059
Rinaldi@225avenues.com
Licensed in Louisiana