Lafayette home sales increase 50%

LAFAYETTE — Home sales in July were up 50 percent in Lafayette Parish over the same month last year, the latest round of sales figures for what is shaping up to be a good year for the local housing market, according to a report based on figures from local real estate firms.

With the July figures, home sales in Lafayette Parish for the first seven months of this year have outpaced the same period for 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008, according to a report by Van Eaton & Romero Chief Executive Officer Bill Bacqué, using figures from Realtor Association of Acadiana.

“I think the market is reflecting a positive feeling about the economy,” Bacqué said.

There were 268 homes sold in July, compared with 179 in July 2011, according to the report.

The report also shows that pending home sales in July were up 56 percent compared with the same month last year, an indication that the upward trend could continue through August.

“It would seem to indicate it isn’t a one-month wonder,” Bacqué said.

Cumulative home sales for the first seven months in Lafayette Parish were at 1,522, compared with 1,262 for the same period last year, according to the report.

That puts homes sales for the first seven months in Lafayette Parish 21 percent over the same period in 2011, 7 percent over 2010, 16 percent over 2009, and 8 percent over 2008, according to the report.

The first seven months of 2012 still lag behind the same period in 2007, a year that capped the housing boom in the years after hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

“That was a zenith year for real estate in Lafayette,” Bacqué said.

The report also shows that new construction appears to be on the rebound.

The number of pending sales for new homes in July was at 114, more than double the 56 pending sales of new homes in July 2011, according to the report.

Building permits also are up, according to a Lafayette city-parish government report for the first nine months of the fiscal year that began November 2011.

There have been 559 permits for new residential construction issued so far this fiscal year, compared with 520 for the same period the year before, according to figures from city-parish government.

The total value of all commercial and residential permits is estimated to reach about $370 million by the end of this fiscal year, the highest level since the fiscal year that ended in October 2007, according to the permit report.

Planning, Zoning and Codes Building Office Larry Manuel presented the upbeat permit figures Friday at a City-Parish Council committee meeting.

“We’re looking pretty good,” he said.