By Dennis Norman, on November 14th, 2016
The supply of homes for sale in St Louis continues to decline in spite of entering the “slow season”. As revealed in our market update video for November, the supply of active listings throughout the St Louis area remains low and, in 4 out of 5 of the “core-market” counties, has decreased since last month. Contrary to popular opinion that spring is the best time to sell your home, if you are located in one of the areas with a very low supply you may very well want to take a hard look at selling now while the opportunity is there. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 7th, 2016
When I last published our list of fastest selling neighborhoods, back in the height of the spring/early summer market in mid June, the city of Shrewsbury was at the top of the list with an average time on market for listings of just 29 days. Well, here we are approaching mid-November, the beginning of the typical seasonal slow down and Shrewsbury is still at the top of the list of fastest selling neighborhoods in St Louis and, to top it off, the average time on market of current listings is 34 days, just 5 days more than back in June! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 6th, 2016
The median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the month of October was $165,000, a 7.8 percent increase from the median sold price of $153,1000 from October 2015 in the St Louis MSA. As the chart below shows, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 4th, 2016
A report recently released by ATTOM Data Solutions revealed shows distressed home sales in the U.S. (foreclosures, short sales and bank-owned real estate) accounted for just 12.9 percent of the home and condo sales in the U.S. during the 3rd quarter of this year which is down from 15 percent during the 2nd quarter and down from 15.9 percent a year before. This is the lowest level for distressed home sales since the 3rd quarter of 2007, according to the report. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 29th, 2016
The rental vacancy rate in the St Louis MSA the U.S. during the third quarter of this year rose to 9.5 percent from 5.5 percent the prior quarter, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is worth noting though that the 5.5 percent vacancy rate seen during 2nd quarter was the lowest quarterly vacancy rate for the St Louis MSA in well over a decade and 9.5 percent for the 3rd quarter of 2016 is still much lower than the 13.9 percent vacancy rate we saw for St Louis during the 3rd quarter of last year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 28th, 2016
The homeownership rate in the St Louis MSA rose to 67.2 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2016, up from 66.2 percent during the prior quarter but still not far from the 4th quarter 2015 rate of 65.2 percent, the lowest homeownership rate in well over a decade. As the table below shows, which is based upon data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the St Louis homeownership rate peaked this year at 67.9 percent during the first quarter. I believe the best way to see the trend in this data is to look at the 12 month rolling average, so we the seasonality of the data does not affect it. As the table below illustrates, the current 12-month rolling average of the St Louis homeownership rate is at 66.6%, the lowest rate in well over a decade. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 27th, 2016
New mortgage applications for a home purchase declined last week 7.0 percent from the prior week, according to a report just released by the Mortgage Banker’s Association (MBA). The MBA’s Market Composite Index, which is how they track the volume of loan applications, fell to it’s lowest level for home loans for a purchase since January 2016. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 26th, 2016
St Louis, with a current median home price of about $165,000 is one of the more affordable places to live in country, however, St Louis also has it’s expensive real estate as well. Granted, a couple of million bucks goes a lot further here than it does in, say, San Francisco, where the median home price is about $1.1 million and, at a median price of about $950/sq ft, only buys you a home with about 1,100 square feet. Here in St Louis, while even the most expensive homes don’t usually fetch anything close to $950/foot, we do have homes that sell for several million dollars. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 21st, 2016
The city of St Louis is one of the “Top 17 Single Family Rental Millennial Meccas”, according to a report just released by Attom Data Solutions. As the interactive info graphic below shows, St Louis joins the likes of Baltimore Maryland, Milwaukee Wisconsin and El Paso Texas, along with others, as a place that is ripe for investors to rent homes to millennials. For the report, millennial were defined as people born between 1979 and 1993. According to the report, investors that purchased rental homes in the city of St Louis during the first half of 2016 saw a gross rental yield of 12%, nearly 50% higher than the national average of 8.7%. In addition, millennials make up nearly a third of the population of the city of St Louis (29.3%) and 29.8% of the city is rental property, making for a solid rental market. On the downside, the average wages in the city of St Louis is down 2% from last year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 19th, 2016
St Louis home sales and prices continue to trend favorably throughout the area. The inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis area has increased over the past month but that is expected given the seasonal slow down in home sales. Even though we are headed toward winter and the slower home selling season it brings, if you live in St Charles County or one of the other areas where the supply of homes for sale is low, you may want to strongly consider going on the market now to take advantage of what is still steady demand with little competition. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 18th, 2016
Up to 17 million first-time homebuyers may buy a home during the next five years according to a new study just released by TransUnion. Of these 17 million homebuyers, almost three million are expected to buy next year throughout the U.S. The study reveled some interesting facts about the first-time homebuyer market, as well as the impact of the millennial generation on the market, such as: Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 16th, 2016
On October 10th (well, technically October 11th since the final vote was not taken until reportedly 1:00 am) the city of Florissant dealt it’s latest blow to landlords and tenants clearly, in my humble opinion, sending a message that they (Florissant) want neither within their city limits. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2016
There were 293,190 foreclosure filings in the U.S. during the 3rd quarter of 2016, which is a decrease of 10 percent from a year ago, according to a report released today by Attom Data Solutions. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter in which foreclosure activity has decreased on a year-over-year basis and continues the steady downward decline in foreclosure activity we have seen for 6 years and has now finally fallen back to levels we saw prior to the housing bubble. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 13th, 2016
Last month the median price of homes sold in the St Louis MSA was a very-affordable $169,000 however, during past 12 months, homes have sold for as much as over 50 times that amount in St Louis. That’s right, during the past year there was a home that sold for $9,000,000 in St Louis, over 53 times the median St Louis home price. The $9,000,000 St Louis home that was sold was at 2105 South Warson and sold in November of last year for $9,000,000. The next highest home sale was a $4,000,000 one at 760 Kent Road, followed by 2 more Ladue homes. In all, 13 of the 31 homes that sold in St Louis for more than $2,000,000 (based upon MLS data) were in Ladue, 7 were in Clayton (3 of those being condo’s), 3 in Town & Country, 2 in Huntleigh, 2 in Chesterfield, 2 in Creve Coeur and 2 in the Central West End (both were condos at the Private Residences in Chase Park Plaza). Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2016
Over the past 5 years or so I have written a few articles on the topic of the mortgage interest deduction (MID) and how, in spite of what many others in the industry say, I didn’t think it was that critical to the housing industry. All the while, the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) (of which I’m proud to be a member, just happen to disagree on this topic) has staunchly supported the MID and warned that if the deduction went away the housing market and home buyers would suffer. NAR published a fact sheet on the topic stating:
Repealing Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 5th, 2016
Yes, it is October and yes, home sales, and prices, do tend to soften around this time of year as we head into the winter months, but, having said that, it can still be a great time to sell a home, especially if you are in one of the areas I’ve identified below! Why? Well, for one, there is VERY LITTLE COMPETITION but good demand from buyers. So, even though the St Louis housing market, including home prices, can be following suit with the weather and cooling off, when you are in a market with good demand and no competition, you can sell your home for more than you could under normal conditions this time of year. Plus, it’s a lot easier to please a buyer and motivate a buyer to act when there aren’t many homes to choose from and the buyer feel’s they’ll miss out if they don’t act quick enough. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 27th, 2016
There were 184 distressed homes (short-sales and foreclosures) sold in St Louis (the 5-county core market) during the month of August, an increase of 44 percent from July when there were just 128 distressed home sales. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 26th, 2016
New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. during August 2016, increased 39.7 percent to a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate, of 81,000 new homes from a rate of 58,000 homes a year ago. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2016
Existing home sales in St Louis during August 2016 were up 9.2 percent from August 2015, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. There were 3,230 existing homes sold in the St Louis MSA during the month of August, an increase of 2.7 percent from the prior month, when there were 3,143 homes sold. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 20th, 2016
New home construction in August increased in the midwest region of the U.S. by 10.5 percent from a year ago to a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate of 116,000 homes. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 19th, 2016
For some time now, if you are a home buyer wanting to buy a home in St Charles County, you didn’t have a lot to choose from and had to move fast when you did find a home and, for at least the near future, it doesn’t appear this will change. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 16th, 2016
Last week, National Mortgage News, published an article on a report which indicated home prices and homeownership rates are “out of whack”. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2016
The inventory of homes for sale is creeping up, but still low! In this month’s video you will see that the St Louis real estate market remains strong as we close out the summer selling season and head into fall. The inventory of homes for sale has risen slightly, which is to be expected this time of year, but, overall, the market still favors sellers. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 9th, 2016
For couples planning to get married before you spend the time doing the bridal registry thing at stores, picking out housewares, china and perhaps some other things you don’t really need or won’t use, consider putting a house on your list! Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2016
One of the more controversial topics to discuss within the REALTOR community is the topic of agent bonuses, a bonus that a seller, by way of the listing broker, would pay to the agent that sells their home, over and above the normal sales commission. Sometimes seller’s, or their listing agents, see this as a way to draw more attention to their listing and to encourage buyer’s agents to show it and sell it. However, there are many conflicting opinions on this topic within the industry which creates some confusion for seller’s (and buyer’s for that matter), so I thought I would take some time to discuss it. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 31st, 2016
If you are a home buyer looking to buy a house in Ellisville, you better move quick as the homes there are selling fast! As the table below shows, the average time it took to sell a home, for sales closed within the past 30 days, was just 13 days in Ellisville and, in fact, was below 30 days for all of the cities on the top 15 list. You can see where you city ranks by click on the table to see the current, complete list. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 31st, 2016
St Louis area home prices, for the 12-month period ending July 31st, have increased from a year ago in all of the St Louis counties that make up the core St Louis market. As the table below shows, the median home price in the St Louis MSA for this period was $164,000, an increase of 5.81 percent from the same period a year ago. Two counties, Lincoln and Franklin, saw home prices increase at a higher rate than the MSA with increases of 7.88 percent and 7.69 percent respectively. The 3 top counties on the list are all outlying counties, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 30th, 2016
Home sales in the St Louis area, for the 12-month period ending July 31st, are up from a year ago in all of the St Louis counties that make up the core St Louis market. As the table below shows, in spite of the fact that the St Louis MSA saw home sales fall 4.2% during the period from 33,840 homes sold to 32,415, all of the counties in and around the St Louis area on the Missouri side of the river saw increases. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 25th, 2016
ATTOM Data Solutions just released their 2016 Natural Hazard Housing Risk Report, in which they score counties across the nation on risks posed to housing from natural hazards. As the heat map below illustrates, St Louis County has the highest natural hazard ranking in the St Louis area at 59.8, followed by the City of St Louis at 55.3. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 24th, 2016
There were 26,039 homes sold in St Louis during the 12 month period ending July 31, 2016 (5-county core St Louis market), an increase of 5.9 percent from the prior 12 month period. As the table below shows, the median sales price during the past 12 months was $174,900, an increase of 4.4 percent from the prior 12 month period when the median price was $167,500. Continue Reading →
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