Dennis Norman - St Louis Real Estate News

Mortgage Interest Rates Dip Below 3 Percent Last Week For The First Time In 2 Months

By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2021

Mortgage interest rates dropped below 3% this past week with an average interest rate of 2.97% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. As the chart below shows, mortgage interest rates have not been below 3% since February 25, 2021 when they also averaged 2.97%. Rates are still up from the record low rate of 2.65% in January, but as you can see on the chart, are still at a rate that is historically low!

Now is the time to buy or perhaps refinance your existing mortgage.

Anyone that has been thinking of Continue Reading →

Wonder Why More New Homes Are Not Being Built?

By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2021

With the inventory of homes for sale remaining at historically low levels for the last couple of years home buyers may be wondering why there aren’t more new homes being built? Actually, in St Louis, new home construction has been increasing at a pretty good rate but it appears more homes can be absorbed by the market than are being built.

The answer to why more homes are not being built is probably the result of many things such as a lack of available ground in areas that are in demand, a shortage of contractors and tradesmen, the complication of, Continue Reading →

St Louis is ranked 6th most competitive housing market in the U.S.

By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2021

LendingTree just released a list of the 50 large metro areas with the most competitive housing markets in the U.S. on which St Louis was ranked as the 6th most competitive market. This list was based upon LendingTree’s assessment of the quality of the buyer’s in each market, based upon their strength as a buyer from a financing standpoint.

So, while not an analysis of which cities have the most buyers showing up at a listing or where listings are receiving the highest number of offers, it’s about the quality of the home buyer’s from a competitive standpoint. This makes Continue Reading →

New Home Building Permits Still On The Rise

By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2021

There were 4,956 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended February 28, 2021 an increase of 11.0% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,465 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the forth month in a row, All seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits from the same period a year ago and with double-digit increases for four counties. Lincoln County saw the largest increase at Continue Reading →

New Contracts For Home Sales Over 50 Percent Higher Than For Same Period Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2021

The inventory of homes for sale may be low, but that doesn’t appear to be slowing down the pace of home sales. As the STL Real Estate Trends Report below shows (which is exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) during the most recent week that data is available for, there were 1,151 new contracts written on listings in the St Louis MSA, an increase of 54% from the same period a year ago when there were 746 contracts written.

New listings are up as well during the same period. Again, referring to STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS® this Continue Reading →

CFPB Proposes Banning Foreclosures Through The End Of This Year

By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2021

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) earlier this week proposed rule changes that would help prevent “avoidable foreclosures” that will come about when the current foreclosure ban expires June 30th. According to the CFPB, nearly 3 million homeowners are delinquent on their mortgages as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic issues that have come about as a result.

The CFPB’s proposed rule changes include:

Require a pre-foreclosure review period that would generally prohibit loan servicers from starting foreclosure until after December 31, 2021 on loans secured by a borrower’s principal residence. Permit loan servicers to Continue Reading →

Is The St Louis MSA Real Estate Market Better in Missouri or Illinois?

By Dennis Norman, on March 31st, 2021

There are a total of seventeen counties that make up the St Louis MSA with 9 of them being on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River and the other 8 on the Illinois side. For some reason, I was curious today if the portion of the St Louis MSA in one state was outperforming the other or if they were performing about the same. I guess my expectation was probably the latter but the data showed that in fact, during the past three months, they were closed, but each state has its bragging rights depending on which data Continue Reading →

New Sales Of Listings Are Outpacing New Listings

By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2021

As any home buyer in the market is well aware no doubt, we have a low inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis MSA. As the STL Market Report below shows (which is exclusivley available from MORE, REALTORS®) there is currently just a 1.2 month supply of active listings in the St Louis metro area. It doesn’t look like the situation is improving either as MORE’s Local Home Trends Reports at the bottom show that new contracts in the past two weeks have outpaced new listings during the same period. There were 2,105 new contracts written for the Continue Reading →

St Louis 12-Month Home Sales Sets 15-Year Record In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2021

For the 12-month period ended February 28, 2021, there were 29,402 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market. As the 15-year chart below (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®) shows, this is the highest 12-month sales period in more than 15 years! Going back to 2006, a historic banner year for real estate, we find that the 12-month period ended March 31, 2006, came in close at 28,797 homes sold, but that’s a little over 2% below our most recent 12-month period.

But, can St Louis home sales keep up this pace?

Having a record-setting period for home sales Continue Reading →

21 Zips In 5-County Core Where Listing Inventory Is More Than Double The Median

By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2021

If you are in the process of trying to find a home to purchase or have gone through the process in the last couple of years, I don’t need to tell you how low the inventory of homes for sale is. Currently, in the St Louis 5-County core market, there is less than a one-month supply of homes for sale (0.85 months).

However, within that area, there are 21 zip codes that have a current supply of at least double that, 1.7 months or more. As the chart below shows, the supply of homes for sale in these zip codes Continue Reading →

Jefferson County Home Prices Increase in February While Sale Plummet

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Jefferson County climbed to $200,413 in February from $192,000 the month before and sales plummeted from 220 in January to 81 in February.

In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $180,000 so the price of $200,413 last month represents an 11 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 217 so with just 81 homes sold last month, there was a 63% decline in sales for the month.

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Jefferson County Home Prices and Sales

(click on chart Continue Reading →

Franklin County Home Prices and Sales Last Month Up Double-Digits From A Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Franklin County remained at $196,000 in February the same as the month before. There were 82 homes sold in Franklin County in February, one more than the month before.

In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $155,000 so the price of $196,000 last month represents a 26 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 59 so the number of homes sold last month was 39% higher than a year ago.

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Franklin County Home Prices and Sales

Continue Reading →

St Charles County Median Price Of Homes Sold Spikes in February

By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Charles County jumped to $275,000 last month approaching the record-high price of $279,000 set this past August. This is the second consecutive month the median price has increased and is contrary to the norm. Last year home prices fell to a low of $235,000 in February.

Though home prices didn’t follow the typical pattern and fall during the winter in St Charles County, home sales did. Home sales last month followed that pattern falling to 333 homes sold, similar to last year’s February sales of 320 homes.

Continue Reading →

St Louis City and County Home Prices Rebound In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis City and County jumped to $220,000 last month from $204,000 the month before. While home prices increased during the month, the number of homes sold fell slightly to 1,027 homes in the two-county area, down from 1,085 the month before.

As the table below the chart shows, there have been nearly 18,000 homes sold during the past 12 months in the City and County of St Louis at a median sold price of $220,580. The homes sold during the past 12 months sold for a median Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Home Sales Trend At Highest Level In Over 10 Years

By Dennis Norman, on March 9th, 2021

In spite of having been in a low-inventory market for the past few years, home sales in St Louis have continued strong. In fact, as the home sales trend chart below, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®, shows home sales trend for the 12-month period ending February 28th was at the highest level in over 10-years.

The chart includes the St Louis 5-County core market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson) and shows that for the 12-month period ending last month there were 28,571 homes sold (distressed home sales have been Continue Reading →

Half of the Fastest-Selling Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA are in St Louis County

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2021

As the list below shows, five of the ten zip codes in the St Louis MSA where homes that closed in the past 30 days sold the fastest are in St Louis County. However, the fastest-sold zip code was 63052 in Jefferson County and includes the cities Imperial, Kimmswick, Antonia, and Liguori.

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Ten Fastest-Selling Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA

(click on the list for a complete and current list)

Continue Reading →

St Louis New Home Construction Off To A Great Start This Year

By Dennis Norman, on March 5th, 2021

There were 4,864 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended January 31, 2021, an increase of 9.6% from a year ago when there were 4,438 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the second month in a row, Like last month, all seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits during the most recent 12-month period from the prior 12-month period. Lincoln County saw the largest increase at 52.7% followed by Continue Reading →

COVID-19 Pandemic Driven Serious Mortgage Delinquencies To Highest Levels Since The Great Recession

By Dennis Norman, on March 4th, 2021

According to a report just released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), titled “Housing insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic“, there are over 2 million homeowners that have fallen behind at least three months on their mortgage payments. This represents a 250% increase from pre-Covid-19 levels and is now at a level we haven’t seen since the height of the Great Recession in 2010.

Homeowners with an FHA mortgage delinquency rates double rate for all loans:

As the chart below shows, homeowners with an FHA mortgage hit a serious mortgage delinquency rate of 10.8% during the 3rd quarter of 2020, Continue Reading →

Seven Of the Ten Fastest-Selling School Districts In St Louis MSA are in Outer Ring Counties

By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2021

As the list below shows, seven of the ten school districts in the St Louis MSA where homes are selling the fastest, are in outer-ring counties, with the remaining three districts being in St Louis County. This list is based upon the average time it took homes to sell that closed in the past 30 days and Wright City R-II District came in at the top of the list with an average of 14 days for homes to sell. St Charles County was home to the largest number of the fastest-selling school districts with 4 followed by St Louis County Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – February 2021

By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2021

The St Louis real estate market has started off 2021 strong, but is a change coming? Closings of home sales in January were strong with more sales closing than in January of last year, but with everything going and the uncertainty of the economy will it continue? I address both the current state of the St Louis real estate market, as well as discuss our “leading indicator” data which gives us a glimpse of where the market is headed in the St Louis Real Estate Market Update video you can access below. [xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video-Package”] [xyz-ips snippet=”Seller-Resources—Listing-Targeted”] Continue Reading →

St Louis’s Most Expensive Home Sale In The Last Two Years

By Dennis Norman, on February 20th, 2021

One of the many benefits to living in St Louis is it’s a very affordable place to live and much easier to be a homeowner than in most other major metro areas. Having said that, we do have areas, such as Ladue, Huntleigh, and Clayton to name a few where we do see home prices that are out of reach for most of the folks living here. One such example is a magnificent 10,000+ square foot Ladue manse that sold earlier this month. At a final sales price of $6,150,000, it is the highest-priced home sale in the REALTOR® MLS Continue Reading →

One-Story Homes in St Louis Outsell Two-Story Homes Nearly 3 to 1

By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2021

I would say for pretty much most of the 40-years I’ve been in the real estate business in St Louis, one-story homes have been popular. The trend shifted with new homes however as undeveloped ground became more scarce and demand for larger homes grew, which led to two-story homes gaining in popularity. There are of course other styles, such as 1.5 story homes, 2.5 or 3 story homes, and multi-level homes, but one and two-story are the most plentiful.

One-story homes outsell 2-story homes by nearly 3-1:

As the tables below show, in the St Louis MSA during the past Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Trend For February Down From Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2021

The St Louis real estate market has slowed a little in February thus far. As the Local Market Trends reports (availably exclusively from MORE, REALTORS® ) show, new contracts written on listings as well as new listings in St Louis 5-County Core market, were down in each of the first two weeks of February both from the prior week as well as from the same period a year ago.

New contracts written (new sales):

As the reports below show, there were 590 new contracts written (new sales) on homes during the 2nd week of February which was 13% fewer contracts Continue Reading →

Home Foreclosure Ban Extended Through End of June – Is this a ticking time bomb?

By Dennis Norman, on February 17th, 2021

President Joe Biden on Tuesday extended the ban on home foreclosures for federally backed mortgages until June 30, 2021. This is the second extension of the ban which was originally set to expire January 31, 2021, but then previously extended by President Biden to March 31, 2021.

Meanwhile, as the chart below shows, serious delinquencies on home mortgages have been on the rise since nearly the beginning of the pandemic almost a year ago. The ban on foreclosures is certainly a welcome relief to those struggling to make their house payments. However, with such a high delinquency rate one has Continue Reading →

St Louis County Home Sales Trend Outpacing New Listings By Larger Margin Then Neighboring Counties

By Dennis Norman, on February 15th, 2021

It’s no secret that listings of homes for sale in St Louis are in short supply and for a while now new sales have outpaced new listings making it a challenge for home buyers. However, over the past couple of months, new sales of homes in St Louis County have outpaced new listings by a greater margin than neighboring counties. As can be compiled from the tables below, new sales of homes in the St Louis 5-County Core market during the last four months outpaced new listings during the same period by 12.7%. For St Louis county, there were 6,095 Continue Reading →

Transparency in the home buying process including buyer’s agent commissions

By Dennis Norman, on February 13th, 2021

In December I wrote about multiple class-action lawsuits filed against the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), as well as some of the largest real estate brokerages, like ReMax and Keller Williams as well as a Department of Justice (DOJ) complaint filed again NAR over issues related to the lack of transparency in the home buying process.

The aforementioned complaints claim, among other things, that there has been an effort by the defendants to force buyers to pay an “inflated” price for a home as a result of the buyer not realizing the seller was forced to offer a commission to Continue Reading →

New Home Building Permits In St Louis Area Increase Nearly 10 Percent In 2020 From 2019

By Dennis Norman, on February 6th, 2021

There were 4,816 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during 2020, an increase of 9.11% from 2019 when there were 4,414 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the second month in a row, All seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits during 2020 from 2019 and with double-digit increases for four counties. Franklin County saw the largest increase at 19.40% followed by Lincoln County at 13.97%.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Continue Reading →

St Louis Drops To 23rd Highest Homeownership Rate of Major Metros In Q4 2020

By Dennis Norman, on February 4th, 2021

The homeownership rate in the St Louis MSA for the fourth quarter of 2020 was 69.3%, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is a slight increase from the 4th quarter of the prior year when the homeownership rate in the St Louis MSA was 68.3%. This puts St Louis 23rd on the list of the 75 largest MSA’s in the country in terms of homeownership, down from 17th on the list during the prior quarter.

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Homeownership Rates By MSA – 4th Quarter 2020 Continue Reading →

St Louis MSA Counties In Missouri Outperforming Illinois Counties

By Dennis Norman, on January 29th, 2021

The residential real estate market in counties in the Missouri portion of the St Louis metropolitan area appear to be outperforming the St Louis MSA counties in Illinois, according to the latest New Contracts Report below, exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®. As the report shows, for the most recent week reported, new contracts written on residential listings were up 14% for the St Louis MSA as a whole from the same week a year ago, but most of the increase in sales was in the Missouri portion of the MSA. Overall, in the St Louis MSA, there were 105 more new Continue Reading →

A 1-Month Or Less Supply Of Homes For Sale Exists in 43 St Louis Zip Codes

By Dennis Norman, on January 27th, 2021

For home buyers that have been in the market lately this won’t come as a surprise, but the inventory of homes for sale continues to remain low in St Louis. In fact, in 43 zip code areas in St Louis, there is a 1 month supply or less of homes for sale. As the table below shows, the 10 zip-codes in the St Louis core market with the lowest inventory have about 1/3 of a month’s supply or less. Historically, a 4-6 month supply of homes for sale would be considered “normal”.

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St Louis 5-County Core Market Continue Reading →