Despite Oil Price Issues, Lafayette Home Sales Up

It's somewhat surprising that housing sales are up just under 4 percent for Lafayette Parish in a January to June comparison from last year to this year considering there has been an impact to our local economy following a fall in oil prices.

That's according to Van Eaton and Romero President Bill Bacque who tells Kpel those figures are also good news since we are coming off of last year's record year for sales figures that he reported for the Realtor's Association report.

He says one issue that is a slight detriment to Lafayette sales is that there is not as much product in the most popular area of sales right now.  By product, Bacque says there is only a three month supply of houses in the range of $150,000 to $300,000 which accounts for 62 percent of sales in Lafayette Parish.

He says most times, a market typically has a six month supply of inventory.

Bacque believes that one of the reasons sales continue to show growth is the continued lower interest rates, but he cautions the Federal Reserve won't hold off forever when it comes to raising the rates.

When asked about a prediction for the remainder of the year, Bacque says, barring any other major economic impediments, he would suggest that the numbers will stay consistent.