New Orleans rental, home markets continue to cool off

There’s been signs lately of New Orleans’ rising home prices cooling down, and that also applies to the rental market. The Advocate reports the city’s high-end apartments are having a harder time attracting tenants.

And sure, these apartments command much higher rents than many rentals in New Orleans; The Advocate cites a unit at the Cotton Mill, a complex that has attracted professional athletes and actors in town filming movies as tenants, that recently struggled to find a tenant. But the factors contributing to the slowing down of the high-end rental market have implications on the housing market in general.

Local film work drying up due to uncertainty with Louisiana’s film and TV tax credit program, plus layoffs in the state’s oil and gas industry, have contributed to the slowing market—and these factors are also contributing to a cooling off of home prices. This lull mixed with an influx of new, high-end apartment buildings (mostly around the CBD) has lead to a glut of apartments and less demand.

At the lower end of the rental market, demand is high but rents are also climbing, according to the report.

But although the market is cooling off, overall it remains strong: a real estate expert quoted in the article says the city is seeing a 92 percent occupancy rate in rentals, compared to the 98 percent rate it once saw.