Old Metairie's Falling Median Price Is Telling You the Wrong Story

What does it actually cost to tear down and rebuild on a lot in Old Metairie? Some projects also involve review by a five-member board that meets about once a month in a conference room at the Joseph S. Yenni Building.

The neighborhood's most-quoted statistic, its median home price, tells only part of the story this year. Depending on which slice of data you pull, Old Metairie is either getting cheaper or its priciest homes are climbing further out of reach. Both are true. The gap between them is the story.

How Commission Review Fits Into a Renovation Timeline

Old Metairie's historic core sits inside the Old Metairie Neighborhood Conservation District, and land-use changes inside that boundary go through the Old Metairie Commission, a five-member body that reviews and makes recommendations on certain types of development within the district, including new house construction, demolition of existing structures, and even the installation of a swimming pool. Only certain categories of work require a public hearing before the commission, and projects in those categories are scheduled for commission review.

The commission is composed of three district residents nominated by the District 5 councilperson, one architect or planner nominated by the parish president, and the president of the Metairie Club Gardens Association or a designee. Its current roster includes chair Peter A. Waring, an architect, vice-chair Remy Donnelly representing the Gardens Association, and resident member Todd Masson. The group meets about once a month, with additional sessions called by the chairman when needed.

Commission review can be one factor for a buyer under contract on a small lot with rebuild plans to consider when estimating a project timeline.

One Neighborhood, Three Price Measures

Here is how the figures differ. Pull three different, legitimate data cuts on Old Metairie and you get three different pictures of the same market.

The first figure comes from actual closings and shows a market that looks like it's cooling. The second reflects active listings and their asking prices. The third smooths the last year into a single number that's fallen sharply too. Reported side by side, they look like a contradiction. They're actually three photographs of the same moving object, taken from different distances.

The conservation district creates a distinction between properties that may require commission review and those that do not. Properties with plans for demolition or significant alteration may involve a review process that buyers can account for when comparing timelines. The mix of homes sold in a given month can differ from the pool of active premium listings, helping explain why their reported prices diverge.

A neighborhood's median price reflects the homes that changed hands. In Old Metairie, commission review is one factor to consider when comparing monthly sales with active listings.

Two Streets, Two Markets

Walk a few blocks in Old Metairie and you'll feel the split before you see a spreadsheet. Farnham Place is described in local listing copy as one of the neighborhood's most coveted stretches, tree-lined and quiet, home to renovated brick houses that trade well above the reported medians. Tokalon Place holds an A. Hays Town-inspired residence designed by architect William H. Sonner and built by Miles Biggs Construction, the kind of custom, architect-of-record property that almost never shows up in a monthly sales snapshot because it almost never sells. Elsewhere in the district, custom estates sit on 15,000-square-foot combined lots with 8,600-plus square feet of living space plus detached guest quarters.

A few blocks over, the housing stock looks completely different: 1940s cottages under 1,000 square feet, mid-century ranches with carports, small duplexes that list in the $300,000s. Both categories are technically "Old Metairie." Only one of them may involve commission review for certain types of work, a factor to consider when comparing project timelines.

That's why the same neighborhood can post a falling median and a rising ceiling in the same reporting period. It isn't one price softening. It's a market where the accessible tier is turning over more often than the restricted tier, and the statistics blend the two into a number that describes neither.

The Redevelopment Happening Just Outside the Line

For a live example of how differently zoned parcels behave, look at the site of the former Metairie Towers, on Metairie Road within the same broader Old Metairie area but outside the conservation district's residential core. Built in 1973 and converted to condominiums in 1981, the 219-unit tower sat empty for years after Hurricane Ida caused severe roof damage and water intrusion in August 2021, forcing a full gut and displacing residents while they kept paying condo fees on a building they couldn't live in.

NOLA.com reported that listing broker Shaun McCarthy of the McCarthy Group ran a formal request-for-proposals process, and the property drew nine offers before selling in 2024 for $24.5 million to Dallas-based investor Darren Aschaffenburg, who plans to convert it into high-end apartments. Aschaffenburg grew up in Old Metairie, and his family has deep local roots: his great-grandmother Edith Stern founded Longue Vue Gardens and Metairie Park Country Day School. At the time of the sale, his timeline pointed to a reopening in the second half of 2026, which is to say right about now, assuming the project stayed on schedule.

Biz New Orleans reported that the site is zoned R-3, allowing multi-family use up to 65 feet, a sharp contrast to the R-1 zoning capping the former Haynes Academy site a mile away at 35 feet and residential-only use. The zoning contrast illustrates that Old Metairie has more than one set of land-use rules: its residential core is subject to conservation-district review, while the Metairie Towers site is zoned for multi-family use.

Metairie Road itself keeps turning over fast even while the houses behind it don't. French Truck Coffee moved into the former PJ's Coffee space at 800 Metairie Road early this year, part of a shopping center that also saw Langenstein's close to become Robert's Fresh Market and longtime jeweler Hyme Time shut its doors. The commercial corridor changes hands the way the conservation-district homes behind it do not.

What This Actually Means If You're Shopping Here

• Don't anchor an offer to the neighborhood-wide median. Ask for the trailing 90-day closed-sale figure on the specific streets you're considering, not the Old Metairie average, which blends restricted and unrestricted stock into a number that describes neither well.
• If a listing sits inside the conservation district and your plan involves new construction, demolition, or a pool, build the commission's monthly meeting cadence into your closing timeline before you waive a due-diligence contingency.
• If you're buying a smaller, untouched cottage specifically because you plan a cosmetic renovation, confirm with the parish planning department whether your project needs a public hearing at all.
• Treat days-on-market as two separate numbers. The 90 days behind March 2026's median closed sale likely reflects a different category of home than the 75-plus days a $700,000-plus active listing has been sitting at.

A Few Questions Worth Asking Before You Write an Offer

Does every renovation in Old Metairie need Old Metairie Commission approval? No. Review is triggered by specific categories of work, new house construction, demolition of an existing structure, and pool installation among them. Confirm with the Jefferson Parish Planning Department before assuming either way.

How often does the commission actually meet? About once a month on a set schedule, with additional sessions called by the chairman as needed.

Is Old Metairie priced the same as Metairie overall? No. Around the same point in 2026, parish-wide Metairie posted a median sale price of $373,500 while Old Metairie's median closed sale price sat at $411,000, and that's before accounting for the $730,000 active-listing median sitting on the market at the same time. The neighborhood's premium shows up at every level of the data, once you know which level you're looking at.

If you're trying to figure out what a specific street, or a specific lot, is actually worth once you account for its conservation-district status and rebuild potential, that's a conversation worth having before you write an offer, not after. Francher Perrin Group works Old Metairie block by block, and you can start with a look at the Old Metairie neighborhood page or get a free home valuation to see where your own numbers actually land.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.