BATON ROUGE, La. — Livingston Parish led the Greater Baton Rouge area in sales growth last month, posting a 16.6 percent year-over-year jump in closed sales even as the number of homes on the market continued to shrink.
Buyers closed on 197 homes in the parish, according to the latest area market report, up from a year earlier. The median sales price rose 5.9 percent to $250,000, the lowest median among the region's core parishes and a draw for buyers priced out of neighboring markets. Sellers received 99.0 percent of their list price on average, a 0.2 percent increase.
The gains came amid falling supply. Inventory in Livingston Parish fell 6.1 percent to 552 homes, and months supply, a measure of how long it would take to sell every listing at the current pace, dropped 16.3 percent to 3.6 months. That is the tightest supply of any parish in the region and well below the level generally considered a balanced market. New listings edged up 2.5 percent to 204.
Homes did take longer to sell. Days on market climbed 32.7 percent to 73 days, the sharpest increase in the area and the longest average selling time among the core parishes.
Across the Greater Baton Rouge area, closed sales rose 1.8 percent year over year to 950, and pending sales, a leading indicator of future closings, increased 8.3 percent to 900. The regional median sales price rose 2.4 percent to $281,515. New listings ticked up 0.7 percent to 1,161, but overall inventory fell 3.6 percent to 3,373 units, pushing months supply down 8.5 percent to 4.3 months. Homes across the region sold in an average of 68 days, up 1.5 percent.
The tightening at home ran counter to the national trend. Existing-home sales across the United States rose 3.2 percent from the previous month and 3.2 percent from a year earlier, the National Association of REALTORS reported. Roughly 1.55 million homes were available for sale heading into June, up 3.3 percent from the previous month and 0.6 percent from a year earlier, a 4.5-month supply at the current sales pace. The national median existing-home price reached $429,300, an all-time high for the month and 1.3 percent higher than a year ago, well above the Greater Baton Rouge median.
The picture varied across the region's other parishes.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, closed sales fell 5.9 percent year over year to 475, though pending sales rose 5.2 percent to 445. The median sales price slipped 0.8 percent to $287,500. Inventory dropped 8.0 percent to 1,748 units, and months supply fell 10.2 percent to 4.4 months. Homes sold in an average of 66 days, down 1.5 percent, and sellers received 98.0 percent of list price, a 0.4 percent increase.
Ascension Parish saw the region's strongest activity outside Livingston, with closed sales up 15.1 percent year over year to 160 and new listings up 15.2 percent to 205. Pending sales rose 5.0 percent to 147. Unlike its neighbors, Ascension added supply, with inventory up 6.3 percent to 491 homes and months supply up 5.1 percent to 4.1 months. The median sales price rose 3.1 percent to $334,939, the highest in the region. Homes sold in an average of 66 days, unchanged from a year earlier.
