NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – The New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors (NOMAR) hosted its annual Forecast Symposium, where real estate professionals gathered to discuss key factors impacting the housing market.

A major theme this year was Louisiana’s ongoing insurance crisis, which is severely affecting home sales and affordability.

Craig Mirambell, president of NOMAR, says soaring insurance premiums have become a central issue.

“Insurance prices are really outrageous, interest rates being high, the economy is slow, elections are coming up. We got a lot of negatives, but the good thing is homeowners have kept the equity in their houses,” said Mirambell.

Mirambell says Louisiana’s insurance crisis has been pulling down the state’s housing industry for the last two years. He believes the most recent hurricanes along the Gulf Coast can only complicate matters.

“Even though we didn’t get a direct hit here in Louisiana, seeing these come to our Southern friends, is ultimately not going to help our insurance rates at all assumably. So that wasn’t needed, the costs that are coming with that are ultimately going to keep prices high,” said Mirambell.

Those prices have made it very tough for some realtors to sell homes. That means less money is coming in.

“To be honest, I used to do real estate full-time. I do not do it full-time anymore because it’s just too hard. I have a family as well. So, I can’t put everything on these deals happening, because I need them to happen. If they don’t happen, then my clients aren’t happy and then family isn’t happy,” said Misty Frye of Frye & Melancon Realty in New Orleans.

INSURANCE CRISIS

Misty Frye has been an agent for 17 years and says the cost associated with a buying home in Louisiana can often put potential buyers on an emotional roller coaster.

“People can be tearful, they’re upset. They think they’re getting to the finish line and then something comes up and it’s like, oh no, you can’t do it, the insurance blew it out of the water,” Frye said.

Dr. Jessica Lautz was a featured speaker at this year’s symposium. She is an economist for the National Association of Realtors. She brought a broader view to the forecasting conference and said Louisiana’s real estate industry is facing several headwinds, including declining population.

“In most areas of the Sun Belt, we see a mass migration into those areas, but unfortunately Louisiana is not seeing that. So, we don’t have that in the New Orleans area. Job growth has not rebounded since before the start of COVID and that could be restricting people from moving here. Though what I have to say affordability is definitely in a better in a better scenario than what we see in other areas of the country,” said Dr. Lautz.

Despite the multiple challenges the New Orleans real estate market has faced in recent years, NOMAR’s board president predicted an improving market in 2025.

“I’m always an optimistic kind of guy. I like to bring that to our boardroom, our clients and consumers. Ultimately, we are at a slower time in the market right now. The market has been slow. We had an uptick in COVID that was kind of wild and crazy. Surely, it had to go down from there. Once, the election is over and people settle down from that, we expect the market to pick up in 2025 regardless of insurance prices.” said Mirambell.

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VILLE PLATTE, La. — The 70th Louisiana Cotton Festival is underway in Ville Platte at a new location.

From delicious food, to live music and a midway filled with your carnival favorites, you can find all the fun at 416 Lithcote Rd through Sunday, October 13.

What to expect at the 70th LA Cotton Festival

KATC got to sit down with festival board member and former Cotton Queen Katelyn Calhoun this week for a look at what you can expect into the weekend.

For more information about the Louisiana Cotton Festival, click here. You can also learn more about the history of the festival on its website.

LA Cotton Festival

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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — On the inside, the hum of an airplane. But on the outside, Hurricane Milton violently churns right outside our window as BRProud joined the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron in the skies.

We took off from Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi to observe Milton’s power.

Lt. Col. Brad Boudreaux, who piloted the flight, explains that “Some of the data that we’re collecting, you can only collect it inside of the storm.”

As we headed south, the blue skies over Biloxi, Mississippi were soon replaced by the dark outer bands of Hurricane Milton while the crew began its work.

Before we knew it, the navigator was setting us up for the first pass into Milton’s eyewall. Turbulence then increased dramatically as the aircraft dropped near 300 feet.

Why Hurricane Milton became so intense so fast — and why more storms may do the same

Even through the rough weather, the loadmaster continued with the mission as he deployed dropsondes. These fall to the water’s surface and act like a reverse weather balloon, collecting information on temperature, dewpoint, pressure and wind speeds.

This data is checked by the weather officer before being sent to the National Hurricane Center in real time. In that first eyewall pass, a dropsonde found winds of 165 miles per hour, confirming Milton’s status as a Category 5 storm.

Boudreaux recalls, “The first time we passed through [the eyewall] was pretty rough.”

After the eyewall, we arrived in the calm eye of the storm where there is a blue sky above and a blue ocean below. The crew collected data nonstop as we continued on our flight path, heading to the eyewall once again.

Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm

With each pass, the navigator plotted a path through the eyewall for the pilots who have a front row seat to view the lightning that illuminates the dark. After five passes through the eye, the nine-hour flight comes to an end as we returned to base.

Boudreaux says he’s flown through many hurricanes and this one stands out. He recounts that “This is one of the stronger ones I’ve flown through. I wouldn’t say it’s the roughest. But definitely one of the strongest storms that I’ve flown through.”

The data from these flights are used to create better forecasts that are meant to help save lives by keeping you informed.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to BRProud.com.