Who Really Owns New Orleans Now?

Editor’s Note: Big Easy Magazine has just published Who Really Owns New Orleans Now, Part II: A Deeper Dive—the first in an ongoing editorial series examining housing, ownership, and development in New Orleans.

When homes are sold, but no one moves in… when a neighborhood feels emptier even as property values rise… when your neighbor’s house gets bought by someone you’ll never meet…

That’s when you start to ask: Who really owns New Orleans now?

The answer — increasingly — is: people who don’t live here.

The Rise of the Invisible Landlord

Over the past decade, New Orleans has seen a dramatic shift in its housing landscape. Out-of-state buyers, corporate landlords, shell LLCs, and investor groups now control a growing portion of the city’s residential real estate — often with little transparency and even less accountability.

From the Marigny to New Orleans East, working-class neighborhoods are being scooped up one property at a time — not by families looking to put down roots, but by investors looking to extract profit.

And it’s reshaping the soul of the city.

The LLC Shuffle

Take a look at property records across Orleans Parish, and you’ll find hundreds of homes titled to anonymous-sounding LLCs — “Crescent River Holdings,” “Bayou Capital Group,” “NOLA Property Partners.”

Many of these entities are registered in Delaware or Wyoming, known for secrecy and tax advantages. They often manage portfolios of dozens or even hundreds of units, operating as de facto landlords with no real connection to the neighborhoods they profit from.

Don’t take our word for it. Go to the city’s property viewer tool, search LLC, you will see several LLCs registered in different names over the years in residential neighborhoods.

What’s worse: some properties are listed under different LLC names at the same address, a tactic used to skirt short-term rental limits, mask corporate ownership, or avoid legal responsibility for code violations.

Short-Term Rentals and Long-Term Consequences

One of the most visible symptoms of this ownership shift is the explosion of short-term rentals (STRs). While New Orleans has taken steps to limit and regulate STRs, corporate owners still exploit loopholes — turning entire blocks into ghost hotels.

The result? Fewer homes available for residents. Higher rents. Cultural dilution. And the slow erosion of neighborhood life.

Many New Orleanians now find themselves living next to empty units that only fill up on weekends — or being outbid by cash buyers whose only goal is to convert the property into an Airbnb cash machine.

Buyouts, Evictions, and Displacement

This isn’t just a tourist issue — it’s a housing justice issue.

• Longtime Black homeowners are being offered cash buyouts by investors.
• Renters are seeing monthly increases that far outpace wage growth.
• Evictions are being used as a tool to free up “undervalued” properties.

And with property taxes, insurance premiums, and utility bills all climbing, even middle-income families are feeling the squeeze — while corporate owners simply write it off as the cost of doing business.

The Data Behind Displacement

The Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative (JPNSI) has documented a troubling trend: entire blocks in historically Black and working-class neighborhoods like Tremé and the Bywater have been hollowed out by short-term rentals (STRs), displacing longtime residents to make room for tourists. According to their Short-Term Rentals, Long-Term Impacts 2.0 report:

• 85% of Airbnb listings in New Orleans are for entire homes—not spare bedrooms.
• 75% of STRs were operating illegally.
• A small, concentrated group of multi-property investors—many from out of state—own a disproportionate share of these rentals.

This isn’t just a nuisance—it’s structural displacement. Speculative property ownership is stripping New Orleans of its long-term housing stock and pushing working families out of their own neighborhoods.

In August 2022, WWL-TV reported that New Orleans is already missing half of the affordable rental units it needs. Meanwhile, local real estate professionals say regular homebuyers are being outbid by investors—many of whom are paying in cash and converting duplexes, doubles, and multi-family homes into STRs or overpriced rentals practically overnight.

What We Don’t Know Might Be the Problem

Part of the crisis lies in just how difficult it is to track ownership. Many LLCs use legal agents or PO boxes to conceal their true stakeholders. There’s no public database showing who owns what — or how many properties a single person or company controls.

That opacity protects investors and leaves tenants powerless. If your landlord is a trust fund baby in New York or a holding firm in Singapore, good luck negotiating repairs or fighting an unfair lease.

Policy Solutions (If We Had the Will)

Other cities are taking action. In Minneapolis, Boston, and Washington D.C., governments are exploring:

• Vacancy taxes for investor-owned homes that sit empty
• Caps on how many properties an entity can own in a single zip code
• Mandatory public registries of beneficial owners
• Community land trusts to preserve affordability and autonomy

New Orleans has the legal tools to do the same — but the political will? That’s still missing.

A City for the People, Not Just the Profitable

New Orleans isn’t just a collection of buildings. It’s a living culture. It’s a patchwork of families, neighbors, traditions, music, and memory.

But when homes become assets, neighborhoods become portfolios, and residents become obstacles to ROI, the soul of the city is on the auction block.

We don’t just need housing.

We need ownership that’s rooted in community, not spreadsheets.

Because whoever owns New Orleans tomorrow will shape what survives — and what doesn’t.

Related Articles:

• Who Really Wins When Developers Come to NOLA?

Author: Evangeline