Lafayette Parish Home Prices Are Up $65,000 Since 2019. Here’s the Breakdown.

LAFAYETTE, La. — Buying a house in Lafayette Parish costs a lot more than it did before the pandemic, and new real estate data shows the gap is only getting wider.

The median sale price for a home in the parish sits at $256,996 through June, according to figures compiled by Bill Bacque of Market Scope Consulting. That’s roughly $65,000 higher than the median seven years ago, built up gradually year after year rather than in one sudden spike.

What Lafayette Parish Homebuyers Are Paying Right Now

The median is the number most housing analysts trust to describe a typical sale, since it isn’t skewed by a handful of high-end deals. The average sale price tells a different, pricier story. That figure is at $305,391 this year, up more than $81,000 since 2019. Bacque’s data points to a growing number of luxury home sales as the reason the average has climbed faster than the median.

The split shows up clearly when homes are broken out by price range. Sales of homes at $300,000 or higher have grown 13.1% since 2019. Homes in the $150,000 to $299,999 range grew just 3.6% over that same stretch, a sign that Lafayette’s upper end of the market is expanding faster than its middle.

Why Interest Rates Are Still Squeezing Buyers

Home prices are only half of what a monthly mortgage payment reflects. The other half is the interest rate, and that number hasn’t offered much relief. Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.43% for the first week of July, and most major lenders are quoting rates in the same mid-6% range. For a buyer financing a $250,000 home, that rate difference compared to the sub-4% loans common a few years ago adds hundreds of dollars to the monthly payment before taxes or insurance are factored in.

a person stacking coins on top of a table

Higher prices stacked on higher borrowing costs are why a house that felt attainable in 2019 can feel out of reach for the same buyer today, even with similar income.

The Market Isn’t Slowing Down Despite the Cost

Higher prices haven’t scared buyers out of the parish. Total home sales in Lafayette Parish are at 1,719 through June, just short of the 1,734 sold by the same point in 2020, one of the strongest years on record locally. New listings are at 2,486, marking the third straight year new inventory has increased.

Rising supply paired with sales holding near a record pace suggests Lafayette’s housing market has adjusted to the new price level instead of stalling because of it.

What This Means for Lafayette Parish Families Right Now

For a family shopping in Lafayette today, the math looks different than it did even three years ago. A $256,996 median-priced home financed at roughly 6.5% carries a materially larger monthly payment than the same home would have at 2019 prices and 2019 rates combined. Buyers stretching for homes above $300,000, the fastest-growing segment of the market, will feel that gap most.

Sellers, meanwhile, are sitting in a stronger position than at almost any point since before the pandemic. With new listings climbing and sales holding steady, homes priced realistically for their neighborhood are still moving.

Real estate agents in the parish generally recommend buyers get a full pre-approval, not just a pre-qualification, before house hunting in this kind of market, since sellers are more likely to take an offer seriously when financing is already locked down.

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