Vermilion Parish is blessed with a wonderful climate, good people, good food, plentiful recreational amenities and wonderful opportunities for employment, so its housing market never slowed dramatically, even at the height of the recession, according to local Realtors.

The most popular type of homes, both new and resale, are traditional-style, raised Acadian homes with broad porches, gable roofs, over-hanging eaves and outside staircases. The second most popular style today, she said, is French Provincial. Both Acadian and French Provincial homes are available in both new and older neighborhoods, as well as in rural areas throughout Vermilion Parish.

Abbeville, in particular, is very popular with students and faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette because it is only a 15-minute drive from campus. Noel has also noticed numerous overseas tourists from France, Belgium and Canada who have enjoyed their stay in the Parish and chosen to buy a home for retirement or vacations.

Homes currently on the market in the Parish range in size from 1,000 to 4,000 square feet. But the average home falls in the 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot range and sells for between $150,000 and $200,000, he said. The average half- to one-acre lot in Vermilion Parish sells for $25,000, unless it is on the river. A river lot of that size sells for approximately $75,000.