<p>NEW ORLEANS -- The National Association of Realtors is expected to release a new report on Tuesday, which shows a slight increase in home sales nationwide. Yet, in the most visited neighborhood in New Orleans, home sales have been anything but brisk in the past year. The signs are up around the French Quarter, showing a number of condominiums for sale at a time when home sales have seen a slowdown.
"There is excess inventory right now, which is an advantage for buyers and that you will probably find someone who is ready to sell and ready to negotiate," said Michael Wilkinson, a realtor who specializes in French Quarter home sales.
One of the units up for sale is a one bedroom, one bath home on Ursulines, going for just under $300,000. It's been on the market since August and the home has already seen one price reduction of more than $10,000. It is a second home for the owner, who lives out of town.
"What you buy when you buy in the French Quarter is a lifestyle," Wilkinson said.
Sales of that lifestyle, though, are slow this year. Right now, 129 condominiums are for sale in the Quarter. So far this year, 64 condos have sold.
That is down when compared to last year, when 88 units were sold. The number for 2009 is also nearly half of what the sales were pre-Katrina, when 123 were sold in 2004.
Realtors point to a more severe economic downturn taking place in other parts of the country for what's happening here.
"We do hear that the fellow that was going to buy a second home is going to say 'well, I'm going to wait and see what the economy is going to do,'" said realtor Richard Jeansonne.
While sales have slowed, though, prices are not necessarily in a free-fall. The average condominium in the French Quarter costs just under $225,000 -- not exactly bargain shopping.
"It's more of a buyer's market than it was prior, yet it's not a desperation market," Wilkinson said. "People aren't dumping properties."
That is why realtors say they have high hopes that 2010, and a certain local holiday, may lead to a turnaround.
"Mardi Gras sure gives us good exposure," Jeansonne said. "We have some people that buy just for Mardi Gras, to have a Mardi Gras apartment."
