By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2019 For the 12-month period ended February 28, 2019, there were 37,427 homes sold in the St Louis metro area, a decline of 1.22% from the prior 12-month period when there were 37,889 homes sold, according to our STL Market Report below. During the same period, the median price of homes sold in the St Louis metro area increased by 4.11% from $172,900 to $180,000. As the table shows, there is currently a 3.19 month supply of homes for sale in the St Louis metro area.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 6th, 2019 The median rental vacancy rate for the St Louis metro area during 2018 was 6.8%, according to data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This rate marks the lowest annual median rental vacancy rate for St Louis since the U.S. Census Bureau’s reports which began in 2005.
As the table below shows, the vacancy rate for the 4th quarter of 2018 was 6.6%, down from 6.9% the quarter before and down from 9.2% a year ago.
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St Louis Rental Vacancy Rates
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By Dennis Norman, on March 5th, 2019 During the 4th quarter of 2018, the homeownership rate for the St Louis MSA was 70.5%, the highest level since the 2nd quarter of 2015, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. As the table below shows, the 12-month rolling average for the St Louis homeownership rate was 66.0% in the 4th quarter of 2018, the highest since the 4th quarter of 2016.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 1st, 2019 Homes that sold in Maplewood, Missouri and closed within the past 30 days took an average of just 13 days to sell, putting Maplewood in the number 1 slot of Fastest Sold cities in the St Louis MSA. As the table below shows, the cities that made the top 10 list are scattered throughout the area from Granite City, Illinois to Washington to Hillsboro as well as several places in between.
If you are a homeowner thinking of selling and see your city on this list, now would be a really good time to consider listing your home for sale!
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By Dennis Norman, on February 28th, 2019 There were 3,143 home “flips” in the St Louis metro area during 2018, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Research. With 7.4% of homes sold in St Louis being a flip in 2018, this is a decline of 3.7% from a year ago. The peak number of flips in St Louis came in 2005 when there were 4,426 homes flipped.
What is meant by “flipped” home?
ATTOM Data considers any home or condo that was sold during the third quarter of this year in an arms-length sale that had previously had an arms-length sale within the prior 12 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 27th, 2019 There were 4,471 building permits issued for new homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended January 31, 2019, a decline of 5.20% from the prior 12-month period when there were 4,716 permits issued, according to information just released by the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA).
As the table below shows, St Charles County continues to see the largest decline in new home construction with 1,489 new home permits issued in the most recent 12-month period, down 13.03% from the prior 12 month period. Four counties in the St Louis Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 23rd, 2019 I promise not to turn this article into one of my boring, lengthy diatribes that only a data nerd could enjoy, however, I do want to discuss something that I think is very important for all home buyers, sellers and investors. Given that today there is a plethora of “data” and “information” available to us thanks, in large part, to the internet, and that home buyer, sellers, and investors (as well as the real estate agents working with them) make decisions based, at least in part, to those things, it is imperative to know you have the right data and Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2019 The real estate market in St Louis continues to do well although the home sales trend, as our chart below illustrates, has flatlined over the past year. On our chart, we plot the home sales for the prior 12 months for each month thereby making it easier to see trends in the marketplace. As you can see, over the past 5 years, the trend line consistently increased from about this time 5 years until about a year ago where it leveled off. This is not surprising as it is not realistic for our market in St Louis to be able Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2019 Even though it’s that time of year when the real estate market in St Louis slows down, we are still in a seller’s market in most of the St Louis metro area based upon the supply of homes for sale. Historically, a 6-month supply of homes for sale would be considered a “balanced” market, not favoring sellers nor buyers. If the supply drops below 6 months, it favors sellers as there is less competition for them and above 6 months it favors buyers.
Currently, 14 of the 17 counties that make up the St Louis MSA have a supply of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2019 After mortgage interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage nearly hit 5 percent back in November, they have steadily declined and this past week fell to an average of 4.37% according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Last weeks 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate of 4.37% was the lowest average rate report by the survey since Feb 8, 2018, when the average rates were 4.32%.
The outlook for mortgage interest rates looks promising as well with the most recent Fannie Mae Housing Forecast predicting the 30-year fixed rate will stay at 4.5% through the end of 2020.
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By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2019 At the end of last month, Better Together, a not-for-profit group aimed at combining St Louis City and St Louis County into one big “Metro City”, released their plan for doing so. To say this is a hot topic among residents of those two areas would be an understatement.
Proponents of the plan say it will make St Louis the 9th largest city in the U.S., will streamline government, dilute the city crime stats making them appear to be better and, in the end, lead to increased economic development and growth for the region.
Opponents, such as the Municipal League Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 15th, 2019 The St Louis real estate market is off to a little slower start this year and there are some indicators that we may be in for a little price correction in some areas. Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.
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By Dennis Norman, on February 13th, 2019 Many of the forecasts for home sales this year call for either a slight decline from last year or about the same as last year, in terms of home sales. I think the St Louis market will probably see about the same number of homes sold in 2019 as we did in 2018, it may just come with a little bit of a price adjustment. So, while I don’t like looking at home sales “year over year” for one month, I’m going to make the exception today and include that. As the first chart below shows, in January there were Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 8th, 2019 During the fourth quarter of 2018, 14.2% of the homeowners in St Louis with a mortgage, were underwater on their mortgage, meaning they were in a negative-equity postion, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Research. As the table below shows, this is the lowest rate since the 4th quarter of 2017 when the St Louis undertwater homeowner rate was at 13.8%. On a national level, just 8.8% of homeowners with a mortgage are underwater which puts the St Louis rate at 161.5% of the US rate.
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By Dennis Norman, on January 31st, 2019 At the start of this year, the Missouri First-Time Homebuyer Savings Account program went info effect making it easier for first-time home buyers to prepare to buy a home. This program provides for tax-deductible savings acounts for first-time homebuyers making it easier for homebuyers to save for a down payment by giving them a tax decution for the amount they save. People wanting to save for a home can contribute up to $3,200 per year for married couples and $1,600 for all others. Homebuyers participating in this program will be entitled to a tax deduction on their Missouri Income tax Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 27th, 2019 The list of the 10 St Louis cities where homes sold for the highest average price last year shown below reveals that the little city of Huntleigh, consisting of a land mass of just 1 square mile but home to some of the wealthiest people in St Louis, is where homes sold for the highest average price during 2018. Granted, there were only two homes sold in Huntleigh during the past year (which were in the MLS) but with prices of $2.785 Million and $9.8 Million (for an average of $6,292,500) it catapulted Huntleigh to the top of the list Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 25th, 2019 There were 4,140 building permits issued for new homes in the St Louis area during 2018, a decline of 3.16% from the year before when there were 4,275 permits issued, according to information just released by the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). The number of permits issued for new homes during 2018 was just slightly down from 2016.
As the table below shows, St Charles County has seen the largest decline in new home construction with 1,499 new home permits issued in 2018, down 12.85% from the year before and decline of 24.48% Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 24th, 2019
The St Louis real estate market closed out another good year with 2018 finishing just slightly behind the year before in terms of home sales. Thus far, it looks like 2019 is off to a good start as well although higher interest rates will, no doubt, cause a little tension in the market this year.
Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update video.
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By Dennis Norman, on January 22nd, 2019 Jefferson County, with an estimated population of 221,577 during 2018, had 317 foreclosure filings during 2018, giving it the highest rate of foreclosure filings per capita, at 1 foreclosure filing for every 699 in population, of the all the Missouri counties with a population of 50,000 or greater. As the table below shows, the three Missouri counties with the highest foreclosure rate per capita are all located within the St Louis MSA and Boone County, in the Columia MSA, has the lowest foreclosure rate in the State.
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2018 Missouri Foreclosure Rates By County
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By Dennis Norman, on January 19th, 2019 Yesterday, I wrote an article about the number of foreclosures in St Louis during 2018 dropping to the lowest number in over 12 years, however, in spite of that good news, St Louis still has the 8th highest rate of foreclosure among the 20 largest metro areas in the U.S.
According to data just released by ATTOM Data Research, as the table below shows, during 2018 St Louis had a foreclosure filing for 1 of every 180 housing units. This rate puts St Louis at the 65th highest rate of the 219 MSA’s in the U.S. with a population of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 18th, 2019 As evidence of just how much the St Louis housing market has improved since the housing bubble burst a little over a decade ago, as well as a testimony as to the strength of our economy, the number of St Lous homeowners that lost their homes to foreclosure last year dropped to the lowest level in over 12 years.
As the tables below show, during 2018, 6,882 homeowners in the St Louis metro area received a notice of a foreclosure filing from their lender on their property, a decline of 6% from the prior year when 7,323 homeowners received a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 10th, 2019 According to a report just released this morning by ATTOM Data Research, it’s cheaper to buy a home than rent in 6 of 8 St Louis metro area counties covered in the report. The data reported also shows, however, that home prices are rising faster than rents in all of the counties, a trend that, if it continues, could make buying a home a less affordable option in the future. The data also shows, on a postiive note, that in 6 of 8 counties wages are rising faster than rents. The counties are split when it comes to wages vs Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 9th, 2019 While we still have muncipalities and neighborhoods throughout the St Louis metro area where homes are selling very quickly, there are some areas where it does take longer to sell a home. The list below shows the 10 slowest selling cities in the St Louis MSA based upon the time it took homes to sell that closed within the last month.
At the top of the list is Herculaneum in Jefferson County Missouri where the average time to sell was 154 days, nearly 5 times the median time of 32 days for the St Louis MSA. Of the remaining 9 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 5th, 2019 It may be the slow season for real estate but there are still plenty of areas in St Louis where homes are selling fast! As the table below shows, the cities where homes have sold the fastest in the past 30 days are scattered throughout the St Louis metro area. From number 1 on the list, Wright City in the far western area of the metro area in Warren County to number 2 on the list over on the east side of the Mississippi River in Waterloo Illinois.
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By Dennis Norman, on December 27th, 2018 Early Christmas evening, the commercials began for “after Christmas” sales by anxious retailers that couldn’t even wait until after Christmas to tell everyone what great bargains can be had. Well, the same holds true for residential real estate in terms of bargain prices at this time of year. It’s no secret that the number of homes sold, as well as prices, decline during this time of year, but I don’t know that would-be home buyers realize just how much they can save if they buy a home during this slow season.
As the STL Market Chart (exclusively from MORE, REALTORS) Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 25th, 2018 Wishing you and your family and loved ones a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
By Dennis Norman, on December 21st, 2018 In the last week, I’ve seen several reports indicating declining home sales on both a nationwide basis as well as for the St Louis market. The reports vary widely but one local report indicated single family home sales were down 6 percent from a year ago, which, of course, should cause some concern for both agents as well as consumers since a 6 percent decline is significant. However, this is why, for this very reason, MORE, REALTORS® developed their own proprietary software to analyze and report the market data (the same MLS data as the aforementioned report was based upon) Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 18th, 2018 A report released by Knock, a company that buys homes, forecasts that, nationally, 77% of current listings will sell below the original list price during the first quarter of 2019 and in St Louis, 82.61% of the listings will sell below list price. The report goes on to forecast that, on average, during the first quarter of 2019 homes in St Louis will sell for 5.2% less than the original list price and will take an average of 22 days to sell.
70% of St Louis Listings Sold For Less Than Original Price During Past 3 Months…
As our exclusive Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 17th, 2018 Every year around this time is when many homeowners that have their homes listed for sale discuss with their agent whether they should just take their home or condo off the market as Christmas approaches, then come back on the market after the beginning of the new year. Many homeowners that are thinking of selling contemplate the same thing trying to decide whether to come on the market before the holidays or wait until after.
It is a well-known fact this is a slower time of the year for the St Louis real estate market, but does that mean it’s Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 12th, 2018 There were 9,983 home purchase mortgage loans originated in the St Louis metro area during the 3rd quarter of this year, a decline of 5% from the prior quarter and a decline of 3% from a year ago, according to a report just released by ATTOM Data Services. This is the lowest number of home purchase loan originations for the 3rd quarter since 2015 when there were 9,731 home purchase mortgage loans originated. As the historical table below shows, the peak for loan originations in St Louis was in the 3rd quarter of 2005 when there were 17,698 purchase mortgage Continue Reading →
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