Acadiana Business

Record-breaking real estate year

by Amanda Bedgood

Last year's Lafayette Parish home sales soared, besting 2012 by 21 percent.

It's official: 2013 broke the housing sales records in Lafayette Parish, eclipsing the staggering sales surge in 2007.

Home sales - 3,183 sold - in 2013 beat out 2012 by 21 percent and 2007 by 19 percent. Increases were widespread in both the breakdown of new construction and the general geographic area.

According to Van Eaton and Romero's Bill Bacque, there was a more than 20 percent increase in new construction sales as well as previously owned homes. The total dollar volume for sales hit just under $674 million - a 28 percent increase over last year. And the eight surrounding parishes broke records as well (although more modest than increases in Lafayette Parish).