St Louis pending home sales were down in February from a year ago and, thus far, 2014 is off to a slower pace than 2013 in terms of St Louis area home sales. For the 3-county area, which includes St Louis county, St Charles county and the city of St Louis, there were a total of 2,249 pending home sales in February, down 21% from February 2013 when there were 2,848. Year to date through the end of February, there have been 4,433 pending home sales in that 3-county area, down 20.4% from a year ago when there were 5,569.
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New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. shot up 36.7 percent in February from the month before and was up 1.5 percent from February 2013, according to a report just released by the U.S. Commerce Department. New home sales in the Midwest were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 67,000 homes, up from a rate of 49,000 homes the month before and up slightly from a year ago when new homes in the midwest were selling at at a rate of 66,000 homes per year. Actual new home sales in the midwest for the first two months Continue Reading → Spring is just around the corner however, as I write this I hate to say there is snow coming down outside my window, and St Louis sellers as well as St Louis REALTORS are anxiously awaiting the increased home buying activity that typically comes in spring. Many people equate the spring market with higher home prices however, there are many St Louis neighborhoods that have seen sellers busy lowering prices in the past 90 days. Perhaps, they were overpriced to start with or perhaps the sellers wish to give themselves a competitive edge going into the spring market, but Continue Reading → Homeowners are feeling more optimistic about their investment in their homes as reflected in a new Rasmussen Reports survey which shows only 18% of homeowners think their homes is worth less today than when they bought it. This is down from 24% in the last survey and is the lowest level since the survey began 3 years ago. On the flip side, more than half (57%) of homeowners surveyed feel their home is worth more today than when they first bought it. To find out what your home is worth, you can check out the online resources below, or you Continue Reading → St Louis’ fastest-selling neighborhoods today can be found throughout the St Louis area, however, as the list of the 15 fastest selling neighborhoods below shows, the lions share are found within St Louis County. Ten of the neighborhoods are within St Louis County and then primarily mid-county and west county, then 3 can be found in St Charles county and then finally 1 in Franklin county and 1 in the city of St. Louis. Beneath the list you will find a slideshow of the homes currently available in St Louis’ Fastest-Selling Neighborhoods. Better move quick, before Continue Reading → July 18, 2014 Update -After 4 months on the market and no sale, the price on the Capps’ home was reduced today by $355,000 to $5.295 million. Yesterday, the home of the former Plaza Motors CEO, John Capps, and his wife Deborah, hit the market with a $5.65 million price tag. The home, at 12 Huntleigh Woods, in the exclusive Huntleigh community, was built in 2005, has almost 10,000 square feet of living area and sits on over 2 acres according to the information available. Homes in this price range are not common in St Louis, in fact, at the Continue Reading → According to a survey just released by Pulsenomics LLC, almost one of every 11 renters in St Louis (9%) plan to buy a home in the next year and 5 percent of all households said they plan to buy. The survey, which covered 20 major metro areas in the U.S., calculated a “Housing Confidence Index” for each city based upon the survey responses and St Louis, with a 58.9 out of a possible 100, was at the bottom of the list for the 20 cities. However, on the “Homeownership Aspirations Index“, a barometer of the level at which current renters Continue Reading → Two of the larger players in the real estate search website world, Realtor.com and Zillow, have come to blows over the past few weeks first with Zillow hiring Errol Samuelson, the former Chairman of Move, Inc. (the owner of Realtor.com) and then, most recently, hiring Curt Beardsley who, ironically, was the person promoted my Move to help fill the empty shoes of Samuelson. Yesterday, REALTOR.com fired back at Zillow filing a lawsuit against both Zillow, Inc. and Errol Samuelson for “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets among others actions.” In a statement, Steve Berkowitz, Continue Reading → New Home Construction in the midwest region of the U.S. is off to a slow start for 2014, according to newly released new home construction report from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the report, new home construction starts of single-family homes in the midwest during February was at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 76,000 homes, down 19.1% from a year ago when the rate was 94,000 homes. Building permits for single-family homes in the midwest issued during February were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 88,000 homes, down 5.4% from a year ago when the rate was 93,000 homes. Continue Reading → Hmm….I guess perhaps given the tough economic times we have seen over the past few years, people are becoming more practical and responsible when it comes to spending money. Proof of this is in the results of a recent survey of couples in “committed relationships”, conducted on behalf of ERA Real Estate, in which almost 50% of women surveyed said that rather than have a big engagement ring they would rather put the money toward a down payment on a home. Score 1 for the REALTORS and a big splat for the jewelers. The survey also revealed that 60% of Continue Reading → St Louis foreclosures were on the rise in February with 1 of every 1,328 housing units in the St Louis metro area having a foreclosure action on it during the month, 24.17 percent higher than the month before, however still down 33.14% from February 2013, according to the latest data released today by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, all the counties that make up the core of the St Louis real estate market (on the Missouri side of the river) saw an increase in foreclosure activity in February from the month before with the exception of Jefferson county that Continue Reading → Don’t shoot the messenger, but I have to tell you I’m not feeling quite as warm and fuzzy about the St Louis real estate market as I was a couple of months ago. In February, there were 1,623 homes sold in the 5-county core St Louis market, a decline of over 14% from February of last year when there were 1,898 homes sold. Also, 2014 is starting out sluggish with just 3,225 homes sold in the first two months, 14.5% less than this time last year when there were 3,774 homes sold. There are definitely encouraging things as well, such Continue Reading → Today’s home buyers are young, according to the Generational Trends Study published by the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), which indicates 31% of all recent home purchases were made by the Millenials, also known as Generation Y, which are people born between 1980 and 1995. The next most active generation in terms of home buying is Generation X, people born between1965 and 1979, which accounted for 30% of all recent home sales, according to the NAR report. Who they are and what they buy:[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 ] Rising rents in St Louis now has the attention of Apartments.com which just released a report showing why $1,000 a month rent will get you throughout the U.S. and listed St Louis on the “Rents on the Rise” list. While this is good news for investors and landlords, who can expect better returns from their St Louis apartments and rental properties, tenants would prefer to find St Louis on the “Small Rents in Big Cities” or “Enormous Deals” list in the Apartments.com report. (See below for all cities on the lists) See St Louis Homes Currently For Rent One of the great things about St. Louis is the affordability of good homes in quality neighborhoods, however, St Louis does have it’s share of expensive homes as well. So, what are St Louis’ most expensive neighborhoods? The table below shows the 15 most expensive neighborhoods in St Louis, based upon median asking price of homes currently for sale. [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 ] St Louis rents have risen 18% since the real estate bubble burst (based upon HUD fair market rents for 3 bedrooms) while median home prices have fallen 12% during the same period. Part of the reason behind has been the increased demand for rentals as a result of many homeowners who, after the real estate bubble burst, lost their homes in foreclosure or were forced to do a short sale and then had to seek a rental while they rebuild their credit. This, couple with almost no new apartment construction for several years has created the right environment for increasing Continue Reading → The number of St Louis homeowners with negative equity (also referred to as “underwater” homeowners) increased in the 4th quarter of 2013 to 11.6% of all the St Louis homeowners with a mortgage on their home, an increase from 11.3% in the prior quarter, according to a newly released report from CoreLogic. Another 4.4% of the home owners with a mortgage were in a “near negative equity” position, up from 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Nationally, 13.3 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were in a negative equity position during the 4th quarter of 2013, the same as the quarter Continue Reading → Even with rising home prices and interest rates that are following suit, it’s cheaper to buy then rent both on a national level as well as in all of the 100 largest metro areas, according to a report just released by Trulia. According to the report, nationally it is 38% cheaper to buy than rent and in St Louis, it is 54% cheaper to buy then rent putting St. Louis at the #10 spot on “Where Buying a Home is a No-Brainer” list. See below for the complete list of the top 10 no-brainer to buy cities as well as Continue Reading → Not long ago distressed home sales (foreclosures, short sales, REO’s, etc) were a dominant force in the St Louis real estate market, accounting for a good portion of St Louis area home sales. Today, however, with a few exceptions, they have all but left the St Louis real estate market. As far as the St Louis housing market is concerned, this is a good thing, for home buyers and investors looking for what are often bargain prices as a result, they may have different thoughts. As the table below for the five St Louis counties that Continue Reading → The St Louis homeowner vacancy rate was 3.5 percent in 2013, an increase of almost 13 percent from the year before and the highest rate in over 8 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The homeowner vacancy rate represents the percentage of homes, that are normally occupied year-round, that are currently vacant and for sale without a pending contract. The interesting thing about this is the inventory of homes for sale in St Louis has been steadily declining so the fact that the vacancy rate is increasing indicates there are a growing number Continue Reading → source: Federal Bureau of Investigation Property fraud is a serious threat to homeowners, according to the FBI. A practice that was virtually unheard of until about 6 years ago is something called “house stealing” in which con artists identify a house to target and then steal it. How? It’s actually pretty easy. They get the owners name and personal information, which is easily obtainable today online, and then complete a few forms, forge the owner’s signature and the next thing you know, the con artist owns the house. Other fraudulent activity includes placing mortgages on property not owned Continue Reading → At least three of the “largest earthquakes ever recorded in the continental United States” are believed to have occurred in Southeast Missouri during the period of 1811-1812, according to the Missouri Department of Insurance. At the source of the problem is the New Madrid Seismic Zone which is located in southeast Missouri and is the nation’s most active earthquake zone east of the Rocky Mountains. The Missouri Department of Insurance is encouraging homeowners to check their insurance policies to see if they have earthquake coverage and, if not, are “encouraged to buy this extra protection“. The interesting thing is just over 1 Continue Reading → St. Louis home sales cooled off in January with 1,592 homes sold in the 5-county core St Louis real estate market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), a decline of over 15 percent from January 2013 when there were 1,876 homes sold. St Louis home prices, on the other hand, rose almost 12 percent (11.85%) from a median price of $115,000 in January 2013 to $129,625 in January 2014. As the table below shows, all the St Louis core areas so a decline in home sales in January from a Continue Reading → St Louis home affordability has fallen significantly in the past year as a result of increasing home prices as well as rising interest rates, according to a report by MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the hardest hit area was the city of St. Louis where a house payment on a median priced home has increased 50% from the 4th quarter of 2012 to the 4th quarter of 2013. Jefferson county and St Charles county, with the lowest increases in home prices (2% and 7% respectively) had the least amount of damage done to home affordability. [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 Continue Reading → Homes for sale in Clayton easily top the $1 million mark and in fact it’s not uncommon to find homes in the $2 million+ range with a few $3 million and $4 million thrown in to boot. The city of Clayton is the, self-described, “chic suburban community with urban flair” and serves as the county seat for St Louis county. The slideshow below shows the current million-dollar plus homes for sale in Clayton.
Piqued your interest? If you would like more information on any of these homes or for a private viewing, click here. Continue Reading → When asked “Is Buying a Home a Good Investment” about half (49%) of the Americans surveyed in a recent Rasmussen Reports survey said yes that a home would be a good investment for their family. Before you “glass is half empty” people say that means then the other half don’t agree, that is not accurate as only 27% percent said they felt that a home is not a good investment for a family presently while the remaining 24% just weren’t sure whether buying a home would be a good investment or not. The survey results above are pretty consistent with Continue Reading → Even though the St Louis real estate market is improving, there are still plenty of sellers out there who have had to lower the asking price on their homes in an effort to attract the attention of the increasingly savvy St Louis home buyer. The table below showing the top 20 St Louis neighborhoods for reduced home prices by sellers includes areas of the city of St Louis, and the counties of St Louis, Franklin and Jefferson but none of St Charles county made the list. (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 Continue Reading → St Louis foreclosures increased in January to the point where 1 of every 1,649 housing units in the St Louis metro area had a foreclosure action on it during the month, an increase of 21.70 percent from the rate in December 2013, however a decline of almost 50% (47.06%) from January 2013, according to the latest data released today by RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, all the counties that make up the core of the St Louis real estate market (on the Missouri side of the river) saw declines in foreclosure activity from a year ago with the exception Continue Reading → The mortgage delinquency rate for homeowners 60 days or more delinquent on their mortgages fell below 4 percent during the last quarter of 2013, the first time the delinquency rate has been below 4% since 2008, according to TransUnion. According to the report, every state in the U.S. saw a decline in mortgage delinquency rates from to the 4th quarter of 2012 to the 4th quarter of 2013 with only two, New Jersey and New York, not seeing a double digit decline. See the info graphic below for more info. St Louis area new home construction in 2013 was still very low compared with the normal rate of home construction, however increased 25% from the year before and saw the highest level of sustained activity in years. The decreased levels of new home construction over the past 6 years is leading to a shortage of homes in some areas throughout the country and setting the stage for a somewhat robust recovery of the new home market. Here in St Louis new home recovery will come at a slower pace due to our low levels of population growth here however at Continue Reading → |
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