Page 160 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2016

TOP PRODUCER real estate health
A PLACE CALLED HO
Buying and selling the
Mississippi Coast
E
story by Lisa Kröger
The real estate market is improving. That’s good news following Hurricane Katrina’s destruction and the declining local market starting around 2009. “It
is slowly starting to turn around,” said Gerard Maher, president of the Gulf Coast Association of Realtors.
Kathy Elias, a broker with Coldwell Banker Alfonso Realty, agrees: “Interest rates are still at a historical low and buyers are taking advantage of the current rates.”
Those low rates mean that, since the second half of 2013, the market has seen slow but steady progress in average price, median price, and number of sales. “In 2014-2015, Harrison County went up 9 percent in number of homes sold. Jackson County went up over 14.4 percent,
and Hancock went up over 27 percent,” said Maher.
“Ocean Springs and north of I-10 continue to be in the forefront of properties selling,” Elias said. “But the other areas are seeing success too, particularly as the areas build more amenities. For example, Bay Saint Louis, with the new marina, is once again becoming a tourist town, attracting visitors from New Orleans.”
And that is not limited to Bay Saint Louis. “We have sold all three of our model homes in Diamondhead. We don’t even have a model home to show in Diamondhead! Diamondhead is booming,” Maher said. “And from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, the number of homes sold in D’Iberville has doubled.”
Even the areas that are traditionally
more difficult to sell are seeing renewed interest, such as Harrison County south of the railroad tracks where high insurance rates and fear of future storms were deterring buyers. “Condo sales are steady,” said Elias, “and out-of-town buyers are calling consistently looking for investment properties and places to retire.”
Flood insurance rates are still a concern but commercial development along Highway 90 is changing that. Buyers still see value in the property closer to the coastline.
“You can search from New York
to southern California, and you’re not going to find a place like the Mississippi Coast,” said Maher. “We have water, good food, and so many big city conveniences so close, all with low prices.”
160 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2016
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