Don't miss the coming market! Get our free 2012 St Louis real estate forecast.

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; Trends that will affect the housing market in 2012

The National Association of Realtors’ research staff recently released its comprehensive annual report: Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2011. Market researcher, Paul C. Bishop, Ph. D., Vice President and Jessica Lautz, Manager of Consumer Survey Research state that they’ve identified “trends that have not been seen in the last 10 years,” which will affect the housing market as we enter 2012. [...]

Home sales rise in November;  second consecutive month of increases

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for November shows an increase of 7.3 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 5.9 percent increase from a year ago. This is the second consecutive month that the index has increased and marks the highest level the index has achieved since April 2010 when it was at 111.5. [...]

National Association of REALTORS says "Sales were weaker than people thought"

Today CNBC reported that the National Association of REALTORS, the country’s leading source of existing home sales data, will be revising their home sales numbers from 2007 through October of this year downward because of “double counting, indicating a much weaker housing market than previously thought”. [...]

Home sales jump in October to highest level in 18 months

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for October shows an increase of 10.4 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. This is the first time in four months that the index has increased and marks the highest level the index has achieved since April 2010 when it was at 110.9. [...]

St. Louis metro home prices increase in 3rd quarter but down from a year ago

The median St. Louis metro home price in third quarter was $131,700, up 2.0 percent from 2nd quarter, but down 2.7 percent from a year ago, according to a report by the National Association of REALTORS. Home prices in the St. Louis metro area fared better during 3rd quarter than the U.S. as a whole which saw prices increase only .2 percent from the prior quarter and were down 4.7 percent from a year ago. [...]

Home sales fall in September; third consecutive month of decline

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for September shows a decrease of 4.6 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 6.4 percent increase from a year ago. This is the third consecutive month the index has decreased from the month before and, and the year over year numbers continue to show decline in the rate of improvement from last year. [...]

Home sales and prices decline in September

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in September were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.91 million units which is a decrease of 3.0 percent from the month before, an increase of 11.3 percent from a year ago and is the second highest rate of home sales since March 2011 when it was 5.09 million. [...]

Home sales decline in August; second consecutive month of declines

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for August shows a decrease of 1.2 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 7.7 percent increase from a year ago. This is the second consecutive month the index has decreased from the month before and, while the year over year numbers are still better, this month’s year over year increase was only half of what last months was. [...]

Existing home sales on the rise in August; on pace to beat last year

St. Louis home sales in August were up 20.7 percent from a year ago according to today’s home sales for major metropolitan report from the National Association of REALTORS®.  St. Louis’ increase in home sales topped the increase nationally which was 18.6 percent from a year ago.  St. Louis home pricesin August came in at a [...]

REALTORS offer suggestions to the Fed on how to deal with the REO problem

National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) President, Ron Phipps, wrote a letter to Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury Department and Edward DeMarco, Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency with suggestions on how to improve the Real Estate Owned (REO) asset disposition programs [...]

Home sales activity in July down from month before; still better than last year

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for July shows, after two consecutive months of increases, a decrease of 1.3 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 14.4 percent increase from a year ago (last month’s index was up 19.8 percent from the year before).

[...]

Existing home sales drop in July; Actual 2011 home sales through July down 5 percent from same time last year

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in July were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.67 million units which is a decrease of 3.5 percent from the month before, an increase of 21.0 percent from a year ago and is the lowest rate of home [...]

Pending home sales increase in June; 2nd consecutive month pending home sales on the rise

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for June shows an increase of 2.4 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a whopping 19.8 percent increase from a year ago. This is the second month in a row that the index increased on a year-over-year basis.

[...]

Existing home sales drop in June; ‘Actual’ home sales highest in 12 months

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in June were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.77 million units which is a decrease of 0.8 percent from the month before, a decrease of 8.8 percent from a year ago and is the lowest rate of home [...]

Pending home sales increase in May; largest monthly gain since last year

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for May shows an increase of 8.2 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 13.4 percent increase from a year ago. This is the first time since April 2010 that the index increased on a year-over-year basis, and [...]

US Existing home sales in May fall to lowest level this year; St. Louis has largest decrease for third consecutive month

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in May were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.81 million units which is a decrease of 3.8 percent from the month before and is a decrease of 15.3 percent from a year ago and is the lowest rate [...]

St. Louis Home Sales Down Over 30 percent in April; Worst decline of 20 major metros

St. Louis existing-home sales in April were down 30.1 percent from a year ago, after the prior month’s sales were down 20.3 percent from the year prior.  This disturbing trend points to a decrease in the number of home sales in St. Louis in 2011 from 2010, even though industry experts are predicting an [...]

Housing and Economic Forecasts Point to Rising Activity and Flat Home Prices

Speaking yesterday at a forum at a meeting of the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), several industry “experts” had reasonably optimistic opinions of the housing market and expect home sales to continue on an uptrend through 2012.

Among the experts at the forum was, of course, Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, who said [...]

Pending home sales increase in March; prediction is for an increase in existing home sales this year

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for March shows an increase of 5.1 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 11.4 percent decrease from a year ago. This is the third-consecutive month over month increase for the pending home sales index.

[...]

St. Louis home sales and prices both down Over 20 Percent from a year ago

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in March were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 5.1 million units which is an increase of 3.7 percent from the month before and is a decrease of 6.3 percent from a year ago.

[...]

Study says Americans prefer smart-growth communities; Is smart-growth smart though?

According to a study, the Community Preference Survey, conducted for the National Association of Realtors®, Americans favor walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods, with 56 percent of respondents preferring smart growth neighborhoods over neighborhoods that require more driving between home, work and recreation.

[...]

U.S. Pending Home Sales increase slightly in February; mixed results regionally

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for February shows an increase of 2.1 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 8.2 percent decrease from a year ago. There were some wide swings regionally in this months statistics as the Northeast region had a 10.9 [...]

St. Louis Existing Home Sales Rate down 8.6 percent in February; prices up 8.2 percent

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows mixed signals for the St. Louis Real Estate market as our rate of existing home sales is down 8.6 percent from a year ago, significantly higher than the 2.8 decline for home sales nationwide, however, on a positive note, St. Louis home prices [...]

St. Louis area pending homes sales in January increase

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for January shows a decrease of 2.8 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 1.5 percent decrease from a year ago.  The good news however is that the St. Louis area (five-county area including city of St. Louis [...]

Existing home sales increase in January; fueled by falling home prices

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 5.36 million units which is an increase of 2.7 percent from December and is an increase of 5.3 percent from a year ago.

[...]

Home sales activity increasing modestly

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for December shows an increase of 2.0 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 4.2 percent decrease from a year ago.

[...]

St. Louis housing market finishes 2010 on an upward trend

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS(R) shows St. Louis area existing home sales for December were 3.1 percent higher than a year ago and  St. Louis area home prices in December were 7.8 percent higher than the year before.

Nationally, existing home sales in December were at at a seasonally [...]

Pending home sales rise in November

Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS Pending Home Sales Index for November shows an increase of 3.5 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and a 5.0 percent decrease from a year ago.

[...]

Existing home sales increase in November; Down almost 28 percent from a year ago

Today’s existing home sales report from theNational Association of REALTORS(R) shows existing home sales in November were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.68 million units which is an increase of 5.6 percent from October and is a decline of 27.9 percent from a year ago.

[...]

Remodeling report shows which projects bring most return

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) published its’ “Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report” for this year and in it rated exterior replacement projects among the most cost-effective home improvement projects. This reinforces something most REALTORS will tell you which is that a homes curb appeal plays a significant role in the sale of the home.

[...]