Locally, the city is shrinking, recording 15,000 fewer residents in 2023 compared with 2020. Residential vacancies climbed from 7.5% in 2018 to 11.5% in 2024. “In a weak market, multifamily development will need more/deeper incentives to close the feasibility gap created by adding affordability requirements,” the analysis states. While the MIZ policy has yet to see success in mixed-income multifamily projects, it has supported development of 100% affordable housing projects in the city, the report notes, with 260 affordable units built since 2021 and 563 in the pipeline. earned New Orleans the title of “toughest city in America for real estate” in a University of Mississippi study. Since the city implemented its MIZ to boost affordable housing options,“there’s been a sea change, and the market has shifted,” Phillip Kash, a partner at HR&A, told the city’s planning commission at a presentation Nov. 11. Construction costs have soared 47% nationwide since 2018, according to the HR&A analysis, and sharp rises in interest rates since 2021 have increased borrowing costs. 8 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 11
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