St. Louis area home sales increase 7.0 percent in October from September; down 4.8 percent from a year ago

Dennis Norman

National Association of REALTORS released a report today saying US Home Sales in October increased 10.1 percent for the month and are 23.5 percent higher than a year ago; I did an analysis of the data based just on ACTUAL sales and came up with an increase for the month of 6.6 percent and an increase of less than 1 percent from a year ago…When looking at the Actual sales number for US home sales, the St Louis market is performing pretty close…(to see my complete post and analysis of the NAR report click here)

Here in the St. Louis metro area (in which I include the City of St. Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) home and condo sales for October increased 7.0 percent to 2,375 units up from 2,219 units for September.  As I reported last week in my St. Louis Real Estate News St. Louis Real Etate Market Update, through the end of October home sales in St. Louis are down 4.8 percent from the same period last year. 

Below is additional data on the St Louis housing market for October, 2009:

• Average price of home sold was $170,768 up slightly from Septembers average of $174,721. Average price of condo sold was $151,713 down from $166,117 for September. 
• Median price of home sold was $144,000, down from Septembers median price of $147,000.  Median price of condo sold was $132,000 up from Septembers median price of $130,000
• Average time to sell a house in October was 85 days, down from 86 days in September.  Average time to sell a condo in October was 132 days, up from 127 days in September.

The home-buyer tax creditplayed a major role in these positive sales numbers for September and October no doubt as buyers raced to buy a home and close on the purchase before the credit was set to expire on November 30th (on November 6th the credit was extended) so it is not surprising to see the increase. Having said that, I would not expect sales to continue at the same pace; buyers eligible for the tax credit now have until April 30, 2010 to purchase a house and until June 30, 2010 to close the deal so I think the sales activity that is a result of the credits will be spread out over the period and no doubt will spike again as the deadline draws near.

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