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By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2012
The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for February today showing home sales in the Midwest increased 6.5 percent from the month before and were up 19.0 percent from a year ago. This is in sharp contrast to home sales on a national level which saw a slight decrease of 0.5 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 23rd, 2012
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for February 2012 showing a decrease of 1.6 percent from the month before, and an increase of 11.4 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for February was 313,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 318,000 homes the month before. This is the second consecutive month new home sales have declined. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2012
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in February were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.59 million units which is a decrease of 0.8 percent from the month before and an increase of 8.8 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in February was 286,000 which is an increase of 10.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 13.0 percent from a year ago when there were 253,000 homes sold. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2012
The U.S. mortgage loan delinquency rate was 7.57 percent of all home loans in February, down 5.0 percent from the month before and down 14.0 percent from a year ago, according to the “First-Look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data. The foreclosure presale inventory rate was 4.13 percent in February, a 0.5 percent decrease from the month before and a 0.3 percent decrease from a year ago [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 21st, 2012
st-louis-realtor-dennis-norman-shadow-inventory-corelogicA report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2012 was 1.6 million units, equivalent to a 6-months’ supply, and approximately the same level last reported in October 2011. The shadow inventory is down from a year ago though, when it was at 1.8 million units, or an 8-months’ supply. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been offset by the roughly equal flow of distressed sales (short and real estate owned), according to the report. “Almost half of the shadow inventory is not yet in the foreclosure process,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Shadow inventory also remains concentrated in states impacted by sharp price declines and states with long foreclosure timelines.” [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2012
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for February 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 4.9 percent and a 9.9 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2012
A report just released by RadarLogic states the obvious by saying “housing is a buyer’s market” which, I think by now, we all know. However the report goes on to dig into the driving forces behind this buyer’s market and makes some interesting (and concerning) observations including the fact that, while the National Association of REALTOR’s reported that the inventory of homes for sale in January dropped to 2.31 million homes (a 6.1 month supply and the lowest level since 2006) this does not take into account vacant homes that have been held off the market, homes that have delinquent mortgages on them and are headed to foreclosure or in the foreclosure process, nor homes with underwater mortgages. This is a large pool of homes that while they are not “on the market” now, a large percentage of them likely will be in the coming months and years thereby increasing the inventory of homes for sale. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 16th, 2012 St Louis made the list of the “Best 100 U.S. Markets to Invest in Rental Property“, developed by HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor, coming in right in the middle at number 50. Las Vegas was in the number 1 slot and California was the star of the show with 12 metros on the list
“There [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 15th, 2012
St. Louis foreclosure activity in February 2012 increased 20.54 percent from the month before and was up 17.58 percent from year before, according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2012
According to a national survey released today by Prudential Real Estate, Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That’s up from 52 percent last year. The survey shows other signs of increased consumer optimism as well: [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2012
A report released today by Zillow shows that median rents rose 6.1 percent in St Louis to $1,085 from January 2011 to January 2012 while, during the same period, home prices fell 6.9 percent to $120,300. According to the report, over two-thirds (69.2 percent) of the metro areas covered saw year-over-year gains in rents but only 7.3 percent of the metros saw home values rise during the same period. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2012
Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare monthly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the month as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. (Check out all our market update videos on our YouTube Channel – click here. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 9th, 2012
A survey conducted by Coldwell Banker of it’s real estate agents across North America revealed that home buyers are motivated by lifestyle needs and are more willing to buy homes with updated kitchens and open floor plans than homes with “trendy” media rooms. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 8th, 2012
Today, CoreLogic, a leading provider of real estate market information, released its March CoreLogic MarketPulse report which had a fairly optimistic outlook on the market including the fact that today 25 percent of all markets are experiencing increases in home prices which is in stark contrast to the height of the housing bust when 96 percent of all markets saw home prices fall. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2012
A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in January 3.1 percent from the year before and declined by 1.0 percent from the month before marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline in home prices. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011 and month-over-month home prices increased 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 6th, 2012
Ugh, not the list we want to be on! Clear Capital just released it’s monthly Home Data Indexâ„¢ (HDI) for March, which includes a list of the 15 best performing real estate markets in the U.S. as well as the 15 worst performing markets in the U.S and, unfortunately, St Louis is on the worst performing list…albeit barely. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 2nd, 2012
A report just released by CoreLogic shows that, at the end of fourth quarter 2011, there were 107,183 underwater St. Louis homeowners, or, to put it another way, St Louis homeowners with negative equity accounted for 18.8 percent of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage. This is up from 17.1 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2011. In addition, 6.1 percent, or 34,639 St Louis homeowners, were in near negative equity for fourth quarter 2011 compared to 5.9 percent, or 33,694, in third quarter 2011. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on March 1st, 2012
St. Louis foreclosure sales in 2011 numbered 7.894, about the same as the year before, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac. The 2011 St Louis Foreclosure sales were down almost 20 percent from 2009 and accounted for about 17 percent of all home sales in 2011. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 28th, 2012
This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for December was released showing all three of the home price composites ended the year at new index lows. The national composite fell by 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 and was down 4.0 percent from the year before. Both the 10-city and 20-city composites fell by 1.1 percent in December from the month before and the home price indexes were down 3.9 percent and 4.0 percent respectively from the year before. All three composites are at their lowest levels sine the housing crisis began in mid-2006. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 27th, 2012
The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for January today showing an increase of 2.0 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 8.0 percent increase from a year ago. This marks the highest level the pending home sales index has been at since April 2010 when it hit 111.3 as a result of buyers racing to buy before the homebuyer tax credit expired. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 24th, 2012
In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 24th, 2012
Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for January 2012 showing a decrease of 0.9 percent from the month before, and an increase of 3.5 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for January was 321,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 324,000 homes the month before. This is the first month new home sales have declined after four consecutive months of increases. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2012
Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in January were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.57 million units which is an increase of 4.3 percent from the month before and an increase of 0.7 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in January was 257,000 which is 26.4 percent less than the month before and 4.0 percent more than a year ago when there were 246,000 homes sold. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2012
Two things are driving home buyers into the real estate market; babies and jobs, according to a survey just released by Coldwell Banker. According to the survey, 70% of real estate professionals surveyed say the “most common” reason buyers are searching for a new home today is a result of a new baby or growing family, followed closely by a relocation for a job. Other things driving buyers into the market include marriage, divorce and retirement. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 17th, 2012 Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare weekly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 16th, 2012
St. Louis foreclosure activity in January 2012 increased 1.11 percent from the month before but was down 21.58 percent from year before, according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. Of the 5 largest Missouri counties within the St Louis MSA, Jefferson County saw the largest increase in foreclosures in January at 16.51 percent, following closely by St Charles County at 15.08 percent, St. Louis County at 10.4 percent and the City of St Louis with a modest 2.17 percent increase. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 16th, 2012
The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for January 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 0.9 percent and a 1.0 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 14th, 2012
Last November I wrote about how victims of wrongful foreclosure could apply for an independent review of their file and possibly receive compensation under a new presented by acting Comptroller of the Currency, John Walsh. The deadline to apply for this was to be April 30, 2012, however, today, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced they have extended the deadline to apply three months until July 31, 2012. [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 13th, 2012
Today, Moe Veissi, President of the National Association of REALTORS, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s budget proposal: “As the leading advocate for housing and homeownership, NAR is strongly opposed to elements of President Obama’s budget proposal that would limit itemized deductions, including the mortgage interest deduction, for thousands of families.” [...]
By Dennis Norman, on February 10th, 2012
Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare weekly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. (Check out all our market update videos on our YouTube Channel – click here. [...]
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