NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) –– Industry leaders gathered at the University of New Orleans for the annual Economic Outlook and Real Estate Forecasts seminar.
The director of such research at UNO, Dr. Robert Penick, says we’re heading in the right direction, and there is “more labor in the market now. People are going back to work after the pandemic, and we’re getting more people to work, and that’s good.”
But there is still room for growth, especially in the commercial sector.
“Commercial property does have some emptiness because people are working from home,” he said.
According to a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center, a third of U.S. workers chose to work from home.
Penick explained that fewer workers onsite means that “businesses are taking less square footage in a building than they used to because a lot of people don’t come down there but maybe two or three times a week.”
Many hopeful homebuyers also worry about the price of homes. Penick attributes the high costs to inflation and sellers’ unwillingness to adjust to the times.
“A couple of years ago, the values were going up because people were buying them like crazy. There was a big demand out there, and sellers were making money, and now sellers don’t want to come down on their price,” he said.
High prices are preventing first-time homebuyers from entering the market. He said younger people are holding out for the economy to work in their favor, “They’re waiting for interest rates to come down. They’re waiting for the insurance market to get better, and then they’ll buy.”
The state’s insurance landscape has many homeowners on edge leading up to hurricane season.
According to Penick, the new state insurance commissioner, Tim Temple, is giving the industry hope, “[The] real estate market is very excited about this new insurance commissioner […] It’s going to take a while. He’s going to have to work it out. If our storms get better, we don’t have as many storms. It might work out real well.”
The long-range forecast from researchers at Colorado State University anticipates a highly active 2024 hurricane season. They predict 23 named storms in the Atlantic basin, with at least five becoming major hurricanes.
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