Dennis Norman - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Short-Sales Dwindling

By Dennis Norman, on December 6th, 2013

“Short-sale” is a term that was relatively unknown until the real estate market bubble burst in 2008. After the bubble burst the term quickly became a common topic of conversation among homeowners that found themselves “underwater” in their homes, meaning they owed more on their homes than they were worth, and also among potential home buyers and investors looking to snag a good deal.

If you are one of those buyers wanting to snag a deal, you may have missed the boat as the volume of short sales in St Louis has fallen dramatically. While, overall, this is good news Continue Reading →

Midwest New Home Sales In October Up Over 20 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2013

Midwest new home sales in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 63,000 homes, a 34.0 percent increase from September and an increase of 21.2 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. Nationally, new home sales in October were at an annual rate of 444,000 homes, an increase of 25.4 percent from the month before and an increase of 21.6 percent from a year ago.

New homes sold during the month of October 2013 were sold for a median price of $245,800, a decrease of 4.5 percent from Continue Reading →

St Louis Short Sales Plummet While REO’s on the Rise

By Dennis Norman, on November 26th, 2013

St. Louis short sales accounted for just 1 percent of the overall home sales activity during October in the core market of St. Louis (the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin), according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. As the table below shows, Jefferson County had the largest percentage of short sales in October at 7% and St Charles and Franklin both the lowest at 0%. REO sales (prior foreclosures that are now bank owned) on the other hand, made up 7 percent of St Louis area home sales in October, an Continue Reading →

St Charles County Most Expensive Homes For Sale – Slideshow

By Dennis Norman, on November 22nd, 2013

St Charles county’s most expensive homes for sale can be found from Augusta in the southern part of the county to Wentzville in the north, from Foristell to the city of St Charles and come in all shapes and sizes. The live, real-time, slide show below shows the variety of million dollar plus homes currently for sale in St Charles county.

Continue Reading →

St Louis Luxury Home Sales Increase For 5th Consecutive Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 21st, 2013

St Louis luxury home sales (home sales of $1Mil or above) increased in the past 12 months almost 8 percent from the year with 182 homes being sold for $1 million or more in the St Louis core area (city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin). Luxury home sales in St Louis peaked between 11/06 and 11/07 when there were 268 homes sold. St Louis luxury home prices have not kept pace with sales with the average luxury home price declining for the past two years, however, thanks to increased sales, the Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Increase Slightly In October…Distressed Sales Share Drops By Third In Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 20th, 2013

St Louis homes sales (the 5-county core market*) increased slightly in October 2013 to 2,211 sales from 2,207 sales the month before. However, as the table below shows, a couple of key things worth noting are that October home sales increased 6.76 percent from October 2012 and, in October 2013, distressed sales (foreclosures, short sales, REO’s) accounted for just a little over 20% of total home sales, down from almost 31% a year ago.

St Louis home prices, as the chart below shows, have steadily risen in the past year from a median price of $130,000 in October 2012 to Continue Reading →

St Louis Neighborhoods Where Homes Are Selling Fast

By Dennis Norman, on November 19th, 2013

All 10 of the St Louis neighborhoods where homes are selling the quickest are found in St. Louis County, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS. As the table below shows, the 63040 zip in Grover has the lowest median time homes for sale have been on the market at just 35 days.

The chart below the table shows the number of homes that were sold during October 2013 in each of these zip codes that made the top ten list for fastest selling St Louis neighborhoods. Ballwin saw the most home sales with almost 70 in the Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Activity Spikes in October

By Dennis Norman, on November 15th, 2013

St. Louis foreclosure activity shot up in October from the month before for the metro area as a whole with foreclosure actions occurring on 1 of every 923 housing units, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Even with the increase, October’s foreclosure activity rate for the St Louis metro area was down over 20% from a year ago. Foreclosure activity varied widely across the St Louis metro area with St Louis county seeing a 77% month over month increase and St. Charles and Franklin county both seeing declines in month over month as well as year over year rates.

Continue Reading →

What features are home buyers looking for today?

By Dennis Norman, on November 13th, 2013

Heraclitus of Ephesus, a noted Greek Philosopher from the 6th Century said “the only constant is change” and, while that applies to many things today, it doesn’t really apply much to what features home buyers are looking for in homes they buy today. According to the results of the National Association of REALTORS 2013 Home Features Survey, which asked people that bought homes during 2012 to identify those features they were looking for in a home, reveals home buyers are still focused on many of the same features that, over the past several years, have been typical of what Continue Reading →

St Louis Rental Vacancy Rate For 3rd Quarter Hits Lowest Level Of The Year

By Dennis Norman, on November 8th, 2013

The St Louis rental vacancy rate dropped to the lowest level of 2013 in the 3rd quarter coming in at 13.1 percent for the St. Louis metro area, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. This year started off with a vacancy rate of 15.6 percent for the first quarter, the same rate 2012 started out with as well, however, in 2012 the vacancy rate fell to just 8.2 percent during the 3rd quarter. Due to holidays and weather, the 4th quarter usually sees a significant increase in vacancy rates from the 3rd quarter so we Continue Reading →

Majority of Sellers Are Lowering Asking Prices On Homes In Many St Louis Neighborhoods

By Dennis Norman, on November 7th, 2013

Sellers in most St Louis neighborhoods have had to lower the asking price of their homes in the past 90 days and, in fact, as of today, 11 St Louis neighborhoods have seen more than half the sellers lower their prices, according to MORE, REALTORS.

As the table below shows, almost 75% of sellers in the 63122 zip code area of Des Peres have lowered their home price in the past 90 days (this list is real-time and “live” so, depending upon when you are reading this, the data may have changed). Next on the list are three zip codes, Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices Rose Twelve Percent In Last 12 Months

By Dennis Norman, on November 5th, 2013

St Louis home prices (core market) rose 12 percent rose from a median price of $125,000 for homes sold in September 2012 to $140,000 for homes sold in September 2013, according to MORE, REALTORS. The core market for St Louis includes the city of St Louis as well as the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin.

Home price appreciation during the past year in the core St Louis market, at 12%, was right in line with national home prices which, according to a report released today by CoreLogic, rose 12% as well during the same period. Continue Reading →

Over 1 in 4 St Louis Home Sales In October Were Cash Sales

By Dennis Norman, on November 4th, 2013

More than 1 of every 4 (28%) St Louis home sales in October was a cash sale, according to the latest data, according to MORE, REALTORS. This is the highest rate of cash sales in St. Louis since March 2013 when cash sales made up almost a third (31%) of St Louis home sales.

There were 2,438 homes sold in St Louis in October 2013, an increase of almost 19 percent from a year ago.

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Less Competition And Lower Prices On Older Homes In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on October 31st, 2013

I decided to take a look at the age of homes in the St Louis area and determine if older homes in St Louis sell for lower prices than newer homes. My idea to do this was prompted by a report RealtyTrac published this morning revealing that 71 percent of the homes in the U.S. were built before 1990 and that there was less demand for these older homes thereby making prices more affordable than on their newer counterparts.

My research shows that the city of St Louis and St Louis county have a larger percent of older (pre-1990) housing Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Cheapest Homes (Slideshow)

By Dennis Norman, on October 30th, 2013

Since I occasionally publish a slideshow of St Louis’s most expensive homes for sale, it only seemed fair to do a slideshow of St Louis’ cheapest homes for sale as well. Would you believe that, at the time of publication, there are actually two homes for sale for the price of $1.00? That’s right, one buck! Granted, they don’t look like much (actually they look like you should be paid to take it) but what do you expect for $1.00?

So, here goes:

Continue Reading →

18 Percent Of St Louis Homes Sold In Under Two Weeks In First Half of October

By Dennis Norman, on October 29th, 2013

Nearly one of every five (18%) St Louis homes sold in the first half of October 2013 sold within the first two weeks of hitting the market, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS. Of the five counties included in the St Louis 5-county core market (see table below), Jefferson County, with 22 percent of it’s homes selling in the first two weeks of coming on the market, had the highest percentage and Franklin County, at 1 percent, the lowest percentage of homes sold in under two weeks.

(We work hard on this and sure would appreciate a “Like”)[iframe Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Building Activity Up Almost A Third From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 25th, 2013

St Louis home building activity is on the rise throughout the St Louis area, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri. Building permits issued through September 2013 for new homes in the five counties that make up the bulk of our new home market have increased from the same time period last year. Overall, as the table below shows, building permits have increased 29% for the five counties, with the city of St Louis seeing the largest increase at 100%. The lions share of new home construction continues to take place Continue Reading →

Cash Home Buyers In St Louis Account For Half of Home Sales In September

By Dennis Norman, on October 24th, 2013

Cash Home Buyers in St Louis were responsible for 50 percent of the home sales in September 2013 in the St Louis Metro area, according to a new report just released today by RealtyTrac. The report showed that state-wide, cash buyers accounted for 48 percent of home sales in Missouri during the month. As the table below shows (a St Louis Real Estate News Exclusive), in the city of St Louis 69 percent of the home sales in September were cash sales.

Cash sales are often associated with investors and, as the table shows, there is no lack of investor Continue Reading →

How long does it take to build a new home in St Louis?

By Dennis Norman, on October 22nd, 2013

Would you like to buy a new home in St Louis but not sure if you have the time to wait for one to be built? Before the market crash there were plenty of “spec” homes (homes builder’s built on speculation, trusting a buyer would buy it after completed) for buyers to choose from but today there are not near as many being built (“build it and they will come” didn’t pan out so well for builders when the market crashed).

Nationally, according to 2012 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, it takes about 6 months on average to build Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Rate Declines

By Dennis Norman, on October 21st, 2013

The foreclosure rate in St Louis fell to 1.04 percent for the month of August, a decline of 33.5 percent from a year ago when the St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.55 percent, according to a report just released by CoreLogic. The national foreclosure rate for August at 2.36 percent was over twice as high as the St Louis rate. Other good news for the St Louis real estate market contained in the report was that the St Louis mortgage delinquency rate (90 days or more late) was 3.78 percent, a decrease of 16.6 percent from a year ago when Continue Reading →

51 Percent of Americans Say Buying A Home Is A Good Investment

By Dennis Norman, on October 20th, 2013

A new Rasmussen Reports survey just released reveals that most Americans (51%) believe buying a home is a good investment. The results of this survey are in line with what similar survey’s by Rasmussen have revealed throughout 2012 and 2013, however is down from May 2009 when 67% of Americans Surveyed said it was a good time to buy, marking an all-time high.

Thinking of buying a home? Search St Louis homes for sale here.

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House Flipping In St Louis Up 68 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 17th, 2013

House flipping in St Louis is on the rise according to the 3rd quarter house flipping report just released this morning by RealtyTrac, the foreclosure tracking gurus. What is “house flipping”? Well, back when I entered the real estate business (1979) and began buying and selling homes, a “flip” was referred to as a house we sold and would close the our purchase, as well as our resale, on the same day. Today, “flipping” is applied to a home that is bought and then resold within a short period, for the purposes of the RealtyTrac report, 6 months.

The RealtyTrac Continue Reading →

Top 15 Sellers Markets In St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on October 16th, 2013

Thirteen of the 15 top sellers markets in St. Louis are found in St. Louis County, with the City of St Louis and Franklin County each having one neighborhood on the list. This list is produced by MORE, REALTORS, and is based upon their Market Action IndexTM which, among other things, looks at supply, demand and inventory for an area and then applies an index value to it.

Continue Reading →

New QM Rules Going To Put Home Loans Out of Reach For Some Buyers Come January

By Dennis Norman, on October 15th, 2013

January 10, 2014 new QM rules (qualified mortgage) will go into effect and will most likely negatively impact the ability of some home buyers to obtain a mortgage. In terms of how many borrowers the new rules will affect, it is hard to say. There have been several analysis’ done of the percentage of home loans originated in 2012 would not have met the QM rules and the estimates vary from 12 percent to more than half. Personally, I think the lower estimates are probably closer to accurate, but it is still a significant number…potentially somewhere around 1 of every Continue Reading →

St Louis Most Expensive Homes For Sale

By Dennis Norman, on October 11th, 2013

St Louis is a pretty modest place as a whole and is very affordable when it comes to housing costs. This doesn’t mean that you can’t find a multi-million dollar estate if you are in the market for one.

The proof is in the slideshow below…the most expensive homes currently on the market in the St Louis area:

Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Activity Down Almost 36 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 10th, 2013

St Louis foreclosure activity during the 3rd quarter of this year was down 35.70 percent from a year ago, according to a report just released this morning from RealtyTrac. There was foreclosure activity of some kind (notice of trustee sale published, foreclosure auction or new REO property) on 3,256 properties in the St Louis metro area during 3rd quarter of this year. This works out to foreclosure activity on one of every 382 properties in the St Louis metro area. St Louis’ foreclosure activity rate ranks 98th of the large metro areas (200,000+ population) in the U.S.

Nationally, foreclosure Continue Reading →

REALTORS Warn That Debt Ceiling Impasse May Run Interest Rates Up and Home Sales Down

By Dennis Norman, on October 9th, 2013

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS (NAR), cautioned today that, given the fact the U.S. Government spends one dollar for every 75 -80 cents it takes in, if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, the government will have to decide where to cut its spending. Should the government choose not to pay its interest obligations, “we can expect interest rates on Treasury bonds to rise…and if that happens, mortgage rates will rise, because mortgage rates follow Treasury rates.”

Yun went on to say that if mortgage interest rates do rise we can expect home sales to drop Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Prices and Real Estate Market Update for October 2013

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2013

It’s a fickle market…

The government shut-down and economy that is, at best, somewhat unstable, continues to keep home buyers somewhat timid. As the data shows in our just-released 5 minute market update, St Louis home prices and St Louis home sales have both increased in the past year, but the market is fairly fragile at this point.

Thinking of selling and want to know if your neighborhood is a seller’s market? Contact us and we’ll answer that question for you.

You can now subscribe to our ITUNES Podcast Channel to receive our updated market videos via podcast automatically Continue Reading →

How Will The Government Shut Down Affect The St Louis Real Estate Market?

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2013

As we enter the 7th day of the government shut down, concern grows among home buyers and sellers as to how this may affect the transactions here in St Louis. The short answer is that, fortunately, it appears the impact will be minimal for the most part. This morning at a meeting of the St Louis Industry Forum, which I chair, this topic was discussed and from the input of the real estate-related professions represented, it appears the impact of the government shutdown on real estate transactions here will be minimal.

Shelly Clark, President of Cardinal Surveying, said that there Continue Reading →

The Dual Agency Dual

By Dennis Norman, on October 3rd, 2013

Agency relationships between a buyer or seller of a home and the real estate agent are probably one of the most confusing aspects of the real estate transaction for consumers and for many real estate agents as well for that matter. Dual agency takes the confusion to a whole new level though for the parties involved as the issue gets quite complex. At the very basic level, dual agency exists when the same real estate agent represents both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction (a bad idea in my humble opinion). At a more complicated Continue Reading →