The demographics have continued to change and people no longer want to be in those type of homes. Other areas just have a better trend to higher prices.

Yep, 2different areas. East bank vs westbank of the Mississippi River. Many prices are though lower than they once were. Things have picked up lately and we are ahead of the national market. I would be glad to send you some homes in other areas that are holding their value better. Shoot me an email if you are interested, realtorcraig@cox.net

Why?
1) It's the Westbank
2) It is essentially swampland
3) It is the Westbank..look at the demographics, and you will see it is a different level of folks when compared to say Mandeville or Harahan.

Hopefully in the next few years it will be a different place, but beware of fast construction with flimsy 2 x 4's and cracks in slabs. You want, (and can demand) a home built to Dade County code standards. If the developer you are dealing with does not know where Dade County is, nor what the standards are, run, run as fast as you can...and find a nice New Orleans home in Old Metarie if your budget allows..or for really good deals over $400k try Lakeview.

Thanks for the reply. Right now, I'm just trying to get a feel for NOLA and its surrounding areas, and it would appear to me that the Lakewood CC area has "depressed" prices versus other areas like River Ridge / Harahan on a per square foot basis. Not knowing the area, I may be missing something obvious.

That's just the market we are in now a days. Post katrin, value have went down. Higher priced homes have dropped because of supply and demand. There are not enough higher priced buyer to fill all the sales, so therefore those who really want to sell, drop the price.
What are you comparing your "depressed" price to? Is it a previous purchase price, or pre katrina price?