By Dennis Norman, on January 22nd, 2015 There were 119,936 St Louis homeowners with negative equity, or in a seriously underwater condition on their mortgage meaning they owe more than the current value of their home, in the St Louis MSA during the 4th quarter of 2014 which is a 21% improvement from the prior quarter when there were 152,025 St Louis homeowners seriously underwater, according to a report just released today by RealtyTrac.
As the table below shows, for the immediate St Louis, MO area, the city and county of St Louis had the highest percentage of underwater homeowners at 22% and St Charles county had Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 21st, 2015 After struggling for years, new home construction in the Midwest finished out 2014 with a little more home building activity than the prior year and on a pace that makes me feel pretty optimistic about 2015 for the home building industry. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 19th, 2015 Today, as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is hard for me to believe that, during my lifetime, there was a time when it was legal to refuse to rent or sell a house to someone because of their race or skin color, but it was. However, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also referred to as the “Fair Housing Act of 1968”, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, just one week after Dr. King’s assassination, corrected this atrocity and made it illegal to refuse to rent or lease a home to someone based upon their race. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2015 The 63376 zip code area of St Charles County, which includes the City of St. Peters and a portion of Cottleville, had the most homes sold in 2014 of any other zip code area in St Louis with 1,145 homes sold. For the zip area with the second most homes sold in 2014 we jump to the east side of the Missouri river with the 63021 area of St Louis County, comprised of Ballwin, Manchester and Ellisville, with 856 homes sold. The chart below shows the top 20 zip areas in the St Louis area and then the charts that Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2015 Missouri foreclosure filings during 2014 occurred on a total of 9.762 properties in Missouri which is down over 70% from 2010 when foreclosure activity in Missouri hit an all-time record high with foreclosure filings occurring that year on 33,120 properties, according to data just released by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2015 St Louis home sales in 2014 failed to keep pace with the year before however St Louis home prices rose during the same period. How much they rose as well as how much St Louis home prices are expected to increase (or decrease) in 2015 are just two of the important pieces of information you will find about the current St Louis real state market in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for January 2015, below.
There are neighborhoods throughout St Louis that are low on inventory and high on demand creating a seller’s market! If you have considered Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 10th, 2015 The bursting of the real estate market bubble back in 2008 led to opportunities for investors to buy up homes at attractive prices throughout the country and even attracted some large firms backed by Wall Street such as Blackstone, American Homes 4 Rent, Colony American Homes and Fundamental REO. While institutional ownership of commercial real estate, apartments and land has been very common, and in fact, predominant, since entering the business in 1979, firms like this investing in single family homes has not. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 9th, 2015 Yesterday, President Obama announced that he will, by executive order, direct FHA to lower the mortgage insurance premium charged on FHA loans to home buyer from 1.35 percent to .85 percent, lowering home buyer’s house payments by about $900 per year on average. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 8th, 2015 
The number of St Louis Homeowners with negative equity (or underwater) during the third quarter of 2014 hit the lowest level since Corelogic began tracking this data in the 3rd quarter of 2009. During the quarter, 8.43% of St Louis homeowners with a mortgage were underwater or in a negative equity position meaning their mortgage balance exceed the current value of their home, according to the latest data from Corelogic. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 7th, 2015 In the past year, homes for sale located within the 63105 zip code (Clayton) have sold, on average, for 98.2% of the original list price, a higher percentage than any other St Louis area during the same period, according to the latest date available from MORE, REALTORS. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 6th, 2015 As a result of the real estate market crash in 2008 and the subsequent downturn in the economy, many homeowners with prior stellar payment records on their mortgages ended up losing their homes in foreclosure or being forced to do a short sale to get out from under it. Most of these former homeowners then became renters but have the desire to buy a home again once back on their feet. Depending upon just how severely their credit was impacted as well as whether they had a foreclosure, short sale or bankruptcy, they may have to wait as long as 7 years to obtain a home loan again. However, thanks to an FHA program called “Back to Work”, which, surprisingly, has received little attention, there is hope for these homeowners including the opportunity to obtain a home loan again without the normal waiting period if their problems were related to a job loss and they meet certain criteria. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 5th, 2015 Clear Capital just released it’s list of the Top 50 Performing Real Estate Markets Forecast for 2015 for major metro areas and St Louis made the list at number 12! At the top of the list was Milwaukee-Waukeshawest Allis, Wi, followed by Columbus OH and Denver CO. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 2nd, 2015 Almost 3 out of every 4 homes currently listed for sale in St Ann have had a price reduction in the past 90 days, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, all the St Louis neighborhoods that made the top ten list for home price reductions have had price reductions on more than half of the current listings of homes for sale in that neighborhood. (We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStLouisRealEstateNews&send=false&layout=standard&width=50&show_faces=false&font&colorscheme=light&action=like&height=35&appId=537283152977556 100 35 ]
Search ALL St Louis Homes For Sale See ALL Homes That Will Be Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 1st, 2015 Pending home sales, those listings that have contracts pending but have not yet closed, declined in St Louis in December 3.2 percent to 1,621 pending home sales from 1,674 sales in December 2013. For the midwest region of the U.S. as a whole, pending home sales slipped a little in November (the latest month national data is available for) falling one-half of one percent from November 2013, according to the Pending Home Sales Index Report just released by the National Association of REALTORS®.
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Search ALL Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 31st, 2014 St Louis Distressed Home Sales ticked up slightly in November 2014 rom October but declined over thirty percent (30.8%) from November 2013, according to data just released by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, all the counties in the St Louis core market except one saw an increase in distressed home sales in November from the month before and all saw a decline in November from a year ago.
On a national level, distressed home sales in November 2014 accounted for 12.6% of all home sales, down from 13.7% in October and from 14.8% in November 2013.
(We work hard Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 30th, 2014 St Louis home sales fell to 2,065 homes in November 2014 for the St Louis 5-County Core Market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), a decline of 3.3% from from 2,136 homes sold in November 2013 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 25th, 2014 Wishing you and your family a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!
Photo by: John Pavelka
By Dennis Norman, on December 23rd, 2014 St Louis New Home Sales in November 2014 increased 12.5% from November 2013 and, as would be expected given the time of year, decreased about 8% from the month before. New home sales in St Louis out performed new home sales in the Midwest Region as a whole as the region saw 4,000 new home sales in November 2014, the same as a year ago, and a decrease of 20% from the month before, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD.
The median price of new homes sold in November 2014 was $235,900, an Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 22nd, 2014 The improving real estate market, as well as low inventory, has led to the majority of St Louis neighborhoods becoming sellers market’s, according to our Market Action Index. As of today, St Louis’ best seller’s Market can be found in the 63021 zip code area of Ballwin, followed by Des Peres and Valley Park. The complete list of the top 15 seller’s markets in St Louis can be found below. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 19th, 2014 The number of neighborhoods in St Louis that are currently seller’s markets has dropped in the past month but the majority (63%) of the St Louis neighborhoods we track still favor the seller over the buyer according to our Market Action Index. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 18th, 2014 Most of the neighborhoods in St Louis have seen home prices increase over the past year, at least to some extent however, some are seeing home prices increase at more significant rates than others. So where are the St Louis neighborhoods that have seen the largest increase in home prices in the past year? Let’s being with how the data is computed. The table below is based upon current median list prices of homes for sale within a zip code. Zip codes that don’t have a sufficient amount of annual home sales to make their statistics accurate and significant have been omitted. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 17th, 2014 Yesterday, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 5771, the “Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014”, which had been passed by U.S. House of Representatives on December 3, 2014 and is now headed to President Obama’s desk for his approval. Assuming President Obama signs the act into law, it will be good news for homeowners that sold their homes in a short sale in 2014 or in some other way was forgiven on mortgage debt during this year. The Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 extends the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 through December 31, 2014 and makes it retroactive to January 1, 2014 so there is no gap in coverage from when the last extension expired. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 16th, 2014 New home construction starts in the Midwest during November occurred at a seasonally adjusted, annual rate, of 107,000 homes, an increase of 5.9 percent from the month before and a decline of 10.1 percent from November 2013, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Year to date through the end of November, there have been 97,800 single family homes started, an increase of 2 percent from this time last year when construction had started on a total of 95,700 new single family homes.
Only half the new homes built are for sale-
One of the things Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 13th, 2014 St Louis home sales are lagging behind last years however St Louis home prices are up from last year. How much are home prices up? What are the HOT St Louis real estate markets (and the COLD ones as well)? Find the answers to these, and many other questions you may have about the current St Louis real state market in our newly published, 5-minute, market video update for December 2014, below. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 11th, 2014 St Louis foreclosure activity continued to decline in November with the number of foreclosure actions decreasing in all of the St Louis core counties from the month before, according to a report just released this morning from RealtyTrac. The St Louis MSA as well as the core counties that make up the bulk of the St Louis market in Missouri, also saw double digit declines in foreclosure activity in November from the year before with the exception being Jefferson County which, as the table below shows, saw an increase of almost 90%.
(We work hard on this and sure would Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2014 The Mortgage Delinquency Rate, the pre-cursor to, and leading indicator of, foreclosures, which play havoc with home prices, is expected to decline to 3.12 percent by the end of this month and continue to decline next year hitting 2.51 percent by the end of 2015, according to a forecast just released by TransUnion. If mortgage delinquency rates fall as lowest as forecast, it will hit the lowest level since the housing bubble burst. A home mortgage that is 60 days or more delinquent is counted in the mortgage delinquency rate for this report by TransUnion.
The report goes on to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2014 St Louis home sales slipped in November to 1722 home sales for the 5-county core St Louis market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) from 1808 home sales in November 2013, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. Home prices in St Louis went the opposite direction during the same period however, rising from a median price of $147,500 for homes sold in November 2013 to a median price of $156,000 for homes sold in November 2014, an increase of 5.8% for the year. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 5th, 2014
In 2010, in an effort to “help responsible homeowners who owe more on their mortgage than the value of their property”, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began a program that allowed lenders to offer refinancing options to underwater borrowers that included a reduction in the principal amount of their mortgage to get it more in line with the current value.
This program, called the “FHA Refinance of Borrowers in Negative Equity Positions (Short Refi) Program”, has helped only about 4,000 people or so reduce their loan balances, in spite of the fact that when announced Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2014 St Louis ranked 14th on Clear Capital’s list of the 15 Lowest Performing Real Estate Markets based upon home price appreciation on a quarter over quarter basis. The report, based upon data through November 2014, shows Hartford, CT at the top of the list with a .6% loss in home prices for the most recent quarter from the prior quarter. The rest of the metro areas on the list, like St Louis, did have an increase in home prices from the prior quarter, just all .7% of less. At the other end of the spectrum, as the table below shows, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 2nd, 2014 I spent most of my childhood as well as my early adulthood living in Ferguson and have fond memories of those days. I remember, as a young child, walking down South Florissant Road, south of Carson Road, past a head shop surrounded by hippies in a building on the east side of the street where now is just a parking lot, thinking how strange everyone looked and wondering what a head shop was. I also remember riding my bike all the way from my parents house on Spring to E.J. Korvette’s in Cool Valley to buy my mom a mothers Continue Reading →
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