Louisiana could be looking at the “biggest housing crunch” since Hurricane Katrina a decade ago, the Associated Press reported.

New Orleans may have been luckier this time, escaping the brunt of the devastation. But looking ahead, it has problems of its own, including an economic slowdown that is already beginning to take a toll on its multifamily housing market.

“The backsliding economic situation in metro New Orleans is disappointing,” says Kim Betancourt, director of economics for Fannie Mae’s Multifamily Economics and Market Research (MRG) group.

The city’s economy was performing “so much better just 24 months ago,” Betancourt says. But that was before the local economy felt the full effects of booming oil prices gone bust.

“New Orleans’ short-lived economic recovery is over, and the metro area is on the verge of slipping into a recession,” she says.