Local home values increase

The Lafayette housing market is bucking the national trend of slumping home sales and depreciation in value. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has ranked Lafayette 26th out of the 300 largest Metropolitan Areas in terms of housing appreciation. Houses in the Lafayette area are not losing value like so many around the nation. First-time home buyers like Andrew Conner say this news only reinforces the decision to buy now.

"You're hearing a lot of negative things but from what I've looked at today, there are a lot positive houses out there," Conner said.

Lafayette saw an average 2.28 percent appreciation for the first quarter of 2009. And, a 2.9 percent increase for all of 2008. For a comparison, areas of the country experiencing the worst of the housing slump, like Florida and California, have seen an average housing depreciation of nearly 50 percent. Realty Executives Broker Duke Long attributes this to the stable local economy.

"Someone who buys a house here, they think they are going to get that gradual appreciation over a period of time. I think that has to do with the types of jobs in the area that we have," Long said.

Long said he is seeing plenty of prospective buyers walk through the door, but he says the trend he is noticing is that buyers are choosing existing homes rather than building a home.

Sharon Morrissey, of Lafayette Community Bank, has been in the mortgage business for two decades. She says homes around Lafayette are retaining their value. She says that coupled with low interest rates, makes now a great time to buy a home.

"We are still lending and people are still buying home and financing is still being done," Morrissey said.

As for Andrew Conner, he has his eye on a home south of town. He said he is closer than ever to fulfilling his dream of home ownership.

"I just wanted something that was my own. I've been paying rent for four years and it hasn't been going to anything and I can actually call this my own," Conner said.