Lake Charles appreciation rates and housing market information

Lake Charles housing market information

With a population of 71,519, 31,311 total housing units (homes and apartments), and a median house value of $125,529, house prices in Lake Charles are solidly below the national average.

single-family detached homes are the single most common housing type in Lake Charles, accounting for 70.37% of the city's housing units. Other types of housing that are prevalent in Lake Charles include large apartment complexes or high rise apartments (14.76%), duplexes, homes converted to apartments, or other small apartment buildings (10.06%), row houses and other attached homes (2.48%), and a few mobile homes or trailers (2.15%).

The most prevalent building size and type in Lake Charles are three and four bedroom single-family detached homes. The city has a mixture of owners and renters, with 51.46% owning, and 37.61% renting.

At the end of World War II, American soldiers returned home triumphant and, with the help of the GI Bill, built homes by the millions on the edges of America's cities. These homes were predominantly capes and ranches, modest in size, but built to house a growing middle-class as the 20th century became the American century. Lake Charles's housing was primarily built during this period, from the '40s through the '60s. A full 51.47% of the city's housing hails from this era. Other housing ages represented in Lake Charles include homes built between 1970-1994 (33.42%), and housing constructed from 1939 and earlier (8.61%). There's also some housing in Lake Charles built between 1995 and later (6.50%).

Vacant housing appears to be an issue in Lake Charles. Fully 10.93% of the housing stock is classified as vacant. Left unchecked, vacant Lake Charles homes and apartments can be a drag on the real estate market, holding Lake Charles real estate prices below levels they could achieve if vacant housing was absorbed into the market and became occupied. Housing vacancy rates are a useful measure to consider, along with other things, if you are a home buyer or a real estate investor.

Lake Charles home appreciation rates

Lake Charles's appreciation rate notably has been below the national average for the last ten years. The average annual home appreciation rate in Lake Charles during the period has been just 5.73%, which is lower than % of US communities.

NeighborhoodScout's data show that during the latest twelve months, Lake Charles home appreciation rates, at 1.99%, have been at or slightly above the national average. In the latest quarter, Lake Charles's appreciation rate has been 1.80%, which annualizes to a rate of 7.20%.

Importantly, this makes Lake Charles one of the highest appreciating communities in the nation for the latest quarter, and may signal the city's near-future real estate investment strength.

Relative to Louisiana, our data show that Lake Charles's latest annual appreciation rate is higher than 70% of the other cities and towns in Louisiana.

One very important thing to keep in mind is that these are average appreciation rates for the city. Individual neighborhoods within Lake Charles differ in their investment potential, sometimes by a great deal. Fortunately, you can use NeighborhoodScout to pinpoint the exact neighborhoods in Lake Charles - or in any city or town - that have the best track record of real estate appreciation, by the latest quarter, the last year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, or even since 1990, to assist you in making the best Lake Charles real estate investment or home purchase decisions.