A typical home with a Kaplan address sold for about $155,000 over the past 12 months and took roughly two months to sell. Since SpaceX announced Starbase Louisiana on August 25, home prices and the pace of home sales have not visibly changed, but land is a different story: more parcels are selling and more are being listed. Buyers and sellers across Vermilion Parish are watching closely.
I’m Jason Ray, an Associate Broker with Keaty Real Estate, and I actively work in and around Kaplan, and after Keaty Real Estate hosted a community meeting in Pecan Island on October 9, I wrote up what we learned about SpaceX in Vermilion Parish. Since then, the question I hear most is simple: what is happening with prices? Here is what the MLS shows, in plain numbers.
How much do homes cost in Kaplan, LA?
Over the past 12 months, 54 homes with a Kaplan address closed. The median sold price was $155,000 and the average was about $158,500. Prices ran from $35,000 to $535,000, with the highest sales tied to acreage and newer construction.
| Kaplan homes, past 12 months | Figure |
|---|---|
| Closed sales | 54 |
| Median sold price | $155,000 |
| Median price per square foot | about $92 |
| Median days to sell | about 57 |
| Average sold price vs. original list price | about 92% |
| Active listings today | 13 (median asking price $235,000) |
| Under contract today | 8 (median list price about $147,500) |
The gap between asking prices and sale prices is worth noticing. The median asking price today is $235,000, while the median sale was $155,000. Part of that is mix, because several current listings are larger homes or acreage. But the eight homes now under contract have a median list price of about $147,500, much closer to recent sales than to today’s asking prices.
How fast do homes sell in Kaplan?
The median home took about 57 days to sell, but the spread is wide. Some homes went under contract within days, and others sat for most of a year. Homes that closed averaged about 93 days on the market, and listings still active have been on the market a median of 92 days. Two new-construction homes listed near $200,000 went under contract within a day of listing, which shows that well-priced, move-in-ready homes can still move fast.
What does land near Kaplan cost?
Lot size drives land prices, so the fair way to compare parcels is price per acre. Over the past 12 months, 24 parcels with a Kaplan address closed at a median of about $24,400 per acre. That figure swings widely, because small lots sell for far more per acre than large tracts: sales ranged from about $3,500 per acre on larger tracts to more than $60,000 per acre on small in-town lots. The median parcel took about 88 days to sell.
Right now there are 8 land parcels listed for sale, plus several land leases. The larger acreage tracts, from about 31 to 117 acres, are asking roughly $18,000 to $20,000 per acre, and one 384-acre tract is asking about $3,900 per acre. Four commercial lots along West Veterans Memorial Drive are asking roughly $220,000 to $350,000 per acre. Five more parcels are under contract. If you own land, compare it with parcels of similar size, location and zoning, not with the headline averages.
What about commercial property in Kaplan?
Commercial building sales are thin. Only two commercial properties with a Kaplan address closed in the past 12 months: a 1,954-square-foot building sold for $37,000, and a 6,420-square-foot building sold for $75,000 after 533 days on the market. Two sales are too few to call a trend, and the MLS report shows no active or pending commercial buildings in Kaplan right now. Commercial-zoned lots are listed as land, and as noted above, their asking prices are far higher per acre than recent land sales.
Has SpaceX changed Kaplan home prices yet?
Homes: Not in the sales data so far. In the weeks since the announcement, about 10 homes with a Kaplan address have closed at a median of roughly $160,000, in line with the $155,000 median for the full year. The pace was about 4.6 sales a month, compared with 4.5 a month earlier in the year, and new home listings have held steady at about 5 to 7 a month. It is a small sample, and closings trail contracts by weeks, so any early effect would show up later.
Land: This is where activity has changed. Since August 25, 7 land parcels have closed, about 3.2 a month compared with 1.7 a month before. Three of them were October sales of 10- to 18-acre tracts at roughly $16,000 to $28,000 per acre, one within two days of listing. By my estimate from days on market, about nine separate land listings started in September, compared with one to four in any month of the prior year. Price per acre has not risen. The median on sales since the announcement was about $17,000 per acre, compared with about $27,800 before, mostly because larger tracts, which sell for less per acre, are now trading.
Here is what is confirmed. SpaceX plans a roughly $100 billion Starbase Louisiana site in Vermilion Parish near Pecan Island, with construction targeted for 2027 and a first launch by 2029. The state has projected about 3,000 direct jobs over roughly 10 years. In place of regular property taxes, SpaceX agreed to payments starting at $25 million a year for 25 years. At the October 9 meeting, Kaplan’s mayor said the parish, school board and sheriff receive those payments and that Kaplan does not receive any directly.
Here is what is not settled. No highway route from I-10 has been announced, and launch frequency is an estimate, not an official number. Residents also filed a lawsuit on October 26 challenging how local bodies approved parts of the deal under Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law, and that case is pending.
I don’t take a side on SpaceX. My job is to help owners and buyers understand what it could mean for their property and their budget.
What should Kaplan owners and buyers do now?
- Owners: Make sure you have every exemption you qualify for, including homestead, the senior freeze (65 and older), veteran and first-responder exemptions.
- Check your assessment and appeal quickly if it looks wrong.
- Get a market analysis before you answer an unsolicited offer, so you know what comparable Kaplan homes actually sold for.
- Document your home’s condition with dated photos.
- Buyers: Price your offer against recent sales, not today’s asking prices, and get inspections, flood information and insurance quotes early.
- Stay patient. One Brownsville, Texas broker at our meeting estimated values there rose about 45% over several years, but also described a long quiet stretch of roughly three years before things moved. Kaplan’s situation may be different.
Questions about Kaplan, LA real estate
What is the average home price in Kaplan, LA? The median sold price was $155,000 across 54 closed sales over the past 12 months, based on ROAM MLS data as of October 30, 2026.
Will SpaceX raise prices in Kaplan? Nobody knows yet. Home sales since the August 25 announcement look similar to earlier months. Land activity has picked up, with more parcels selling and more being listed, though not at higher prices per acre so far. A Brownsville broker estimated values there rose about 45% over several years, but construction in Louisiana is not targeted to start until 2027.
How much does land near Kaplan cost? Over the past 12 months, the median parcel sold for about $24,400 per acre, but prices ranged from about $3,500 per acre on larger tracts to more than $60,000 per acre on small in-town lots. Size, location and zoning drive the price.
Should I sell my Kaplan home now or wait? It depends on your goals, your home’s condition and your timeline. A market analysis comparing your home with recent Kaplan sales is the best starting point, and I don’t recommend selling or holding based on speculation alone. You can request your free property value report to see where your property stands.
Where is Kaplan, LA? Kaplan is a town of about 4,350 residents in Vermilion Parish, roughly 10 miles west of Abbeville along Louisiana Highway 14.
About the author
Jason Ray is a licensed Associate Broker with Keaty Real Estate in Lafayette, LA, helping buyers and sellers across Lafayette and the greater Acadiana area, including Vermilion Parish. If you own property in Kaplan or are thinking about buying there, call or text 337-230-0664 for a no-pressure market analysis or click on request your free property value report.
Data source: ROAM MLS (FlexMLS), properties with a Kaplan address in Vermilion Parish, as of October 30, 2026. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. This post is general information, not an appraisal or a prediction of future values.
Sources
- Keaty Real Estate: SpaceX in Vermilion Parish, what we learned at the Pecan Island community meeting
- WWNO: The secret SpaceX deal and the lawsuit challenging it
- Wikipedia: Kaplan, Louisiana
- ROAM MLS (FlexMLS) residential, land, and commercial listings for Kaplan, Vermilion Parish, past 12 months, as of October 30, 2026