Louisiana Named Worst State for Real Estate in America

Real estate markets across the United States have been hot over the last few years. While 2023 was a bit of a mild year in comparison to preceding years, there are signs suggesting market conditions could be heating up again.

Along some same lines, according to a recent report, the real estate markets in many Louisiana cities are surprisingly not as hot as most of the country.

In fact, Louisiana ranks dead last in the study's list of "States With the Hottest Real Estate Markets."

Detailed Findings & Methodology

The data comprising this study includes analysis from real estate brokerage Redfin's Data Center. To determine the hottest real estate markets in 2024, researchers at Construction Coverage created a composite score, equally weighting the following metrics:

• One-year change in median sale price (Dec 2022 - Dec 2023)
• Share of homes that sold above asking (2023)
• Median number of days on the market (2023)
• Average sale-to-list percentage (2023)
• Share of listings with price drops (2023)

Where do Louisiana's major cities rank?

The results aren't any better for Louisiana's bigger cities. Most are towards the bottom of their respective city groupings list.

Cities are divided in the rankings by population and there are three categories: Large, Midsize, and Small.

New Orleans is ranked #52 in the Large Cities category with a composite score of 12.5. That's last on this particular list. The biggest reason for the sluggish results could be the "one-year change in median sale price" as New Orleans dropped 9.7% from the prior year.

In the Midsize Cities grouping, Baton Rouge ranked #116 out of 122 markets with a 24.8 composite score. By comparison, the top city, Providence, Rhode Island, got top marks with an 81.6 composite score.

Shreveport ranked #101 in the Midsize Cities category.

For the Small Cities, several Louisiana cities ranked towards the bottom. A total of 451 cities were ranked in this category.

Here is where each rank:

• #449 - Metairie
• #443 - Kenner
• #414 - Lafayette
• #391 - Lake Charles

Complete Breakdown of All Markets

To see the entire breakdown of the findings, which includes over 600 cities and all 50 states, click here.