12 January 2026
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Local experts are cautiously optimistic about the New Orleans real estate market heading into 2026.
Data from the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors (NOMAR) indicated an increase of 3.6 percent in median sales price ($264,500 to $274,000), an increase of 3.8 percent in average sales price ($333,311 to $346,015) and an increase of 14.1 percent in pending sales (818 to 933) when comparing November of 2024 to November of 2025. There was also a decrease of 6.2 percent in average days on market until sale (65 to 61). The data included Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John, St. James, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington parishes as part of the New Orleans Metro Area. However, the inventory of homes for sale dropped 7.4 percent in that period (from 6,316 to 5,847) and the number of new listings dropped 1.0 percent (from 1,446 to 1,432) when comparing November 2024 to November 2025.
According to data from the Beracha and Johnson Housing Ranking Index (www.ares.org/page/beracha-johnson-housing-ranking-index), the House Price Index (HPI) dropped steadily in the Greater New Orleans Area after August 2022 ($290,824) until roughly June of last year ($250,274). But it has been on the upswing since June.
“Things didn’t look good in the New Orleans Metro Area,” said Ken Johnson, endowed chair of real estate and professor of finance at the University of Mississippi. “But we’re starting to see some green shoots (indicating growth).”
Johnson is optimistic for the market in the upcoming year. Aside from the current trends, he said improving mortgage rates are a reason to be hopeful for the market. He emphasized, though, that New Orleans is in “good shape but not great shape.”
“People are feeling more comfortable purchasing homes again,” Johnson said. “The recovery will be slow but steady … .I would be shocked if it drops again soon.”
Rick Roberts, director of NOMAR, shared Johnson’s optimism for 2026.
“I expect continued growth,” Roberts said.
According to Roberts, St. Tammany Parish has had the greatest increase in both sale units and prices in the Greater New Orleans Area.
Roberts is hopeful that insurance rates will either go down or stabilize in 2026. He said two years ago, for the first time in his career as a realtor, he saw a client get turned down for a loan not because of the mortgage but because of the insurance. But he said there are a few reasons to hope insurance rates might at least stop climbing astronomically.
Roberts said 2025 was an uneventful hurricane season not just for New Orleans, but for the entire Gulf Coast. He said even if a hurricane strikes someplace like Pensacola, it affects the insurance rates in southeastern Louisiana. He also said new state regulations requiring roofers to have a permit to install a roof will hopefully prevent fly-by-night roofers from putting substandard roofs on residents’ homes, which will hopefully reduce the number of roofing claims homeowners will need to make after storms. Roberts also added that the increasing prevalence of fortified roofs might improve insurance rates and residents’ confidence in buying a new home in a hurricane-vulnerable area like New Orleans.
This article originally published in the January 12, 2026 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.