Real Estate Becoming a Seller’s Market In Many Areas

The real estate market is definitely heating up in many cities throughout the U.S. as well in many areas of St. Louis. A decreasing inventory of homes for sale, and even a shortage of homes for sale in many areas, along with increased confidence from consumers in the real estate market, has driven many cities from a “buyers market” to a “sellers market”. Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Rate Increases in January but down from year ago

Foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) were reported on 1,430 properties in St. Louis in January, an increase of 6.64 percent from the month before and a decrease of 7.62 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →

Apartments and Residents Contribute $11.6 Billion to Missouri’s Economy

Apartments and their residents in Missouri contribute $11.6 billion to the Missouri economy and support 276,000 jobs, according to a report by The National Multi Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA). The report says there are 409,198 residents living in 271,500 apartment homes in Missouri with spending power of $4.6 billion. Continue Reading →

New home permits up 47 percent in St Charles County and 25 percent in St Louis County in 2012; It’s all relative though…

It’s funny what you can do with stats….without any dishonesty (well, maybe a little deception) you can use statistics to paint just about any picture (or create any headline) you want. For example, we all know the new home market in St Louis, like the rest of the country, has suffered tremendously since 2006 (perhaps I know this better than many) and it is improving but sometimes the media I think paints a picture that does not always convey the big picture. For example, lets look at the following statements about building permit data for new homes in St Louis, all of which are based upon the same data from the HBA and all of which are true statements: Continue Reading →

The best cities for romance and real estate

Before you get all excited, no, St. Louis did not make the top ten list of the best cities in America for young singles to relocate for love. Wait, before you think I have lost my mind, or are using a cheesy seasonal top-ten list for readership, it’s not my doing….it’s actually Zillow’s idea. This week, Zillow introduced their “In the Move for Love Index”, which lists the best cities for young singles to relocate for love. In evaluating locations for their list, Zillow considered the cost of rent versus income, walkability of the city as well as “supply and demand”…well, um, “the ratio of, and abundance of, single males to single females under 35”. Continue Reading →

Mortgage relief received in 2012 may not be taxable

Missourians have received more than $112 million of mortgage relief as a result of the National Mortgage Settlement reached a year ago with the nations largest lenders, according to Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. Koster, along with Attorney Generals from other states, sent a letter to Congress last November urging them to extend a measure that was due to expire at the end of 2012 that would provide tax relief for some people receiving mortgage relief in the form of principal reduction and short sales. January 1, 2013, Congress passed the extension as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. Continue Reading →

Forty-one percent of survey respondents think home prices will increase; up from thirty percent a year ago

Forty-one percent of the respondents to the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey for January 2013 said they expect home prices to rise in the next 12 months which is down slightly from 43 percent last month but up significantly from a year ago when only 30 percent felt home prices would rise. Continue Reading →

Number of homeowners becoming tenants on the rise

Over 35 percent (35.1) of tenants were previously homeowners, according to a survey by Apartments.com conducted in the 4th quarter of 2012. This is a fairly significant increase from a year ago when 33.6 percent of tenants reported they were previously homeowners. The most common reasons given for the change from homeowner to tenant were affordability and the flexibility in location. While it was just 5th on the list, it is worth noting that the loss of a home due to foreclosure or divorce increased nearly 90 percent in the past year as a reason for converting from homeowner to renter. Continue Reading →

Seventy-Five Percent of Americans Associate Owning a home with the American Dream

A survey conducted by Prudential Real Estate revealed that 75 percent of Americans associate owning a home with the “American Dream” and 96 percent feel home ownership is important and 77 percent of the 25-34 year olds feel home ownership is VERY important. The top reasons given for wanting to own a home include to control their living space, safety and for the investment aspect of it. Interestingly, tax benefits, such as the mortgage interest deduction that REALTORS® have fought to preserve for years, finished a distant 6th on the list of reasons. Continue Reading →

Foreclosures decline in the U.S. in 2012 but still three times higher than before the crash

There are fewer people losing their homes in foreclosure today than there were during the peak of the foreclosure crisis after the real estate market crash, however we still have a long way to go until we will see a “normal” number of foreclosures. According to a report released today by Corelogic, there were 767,000 homes foreclosed on in the U.S. during 2012, down almost 11 percent from the total for 2011, so a definite improvement, however, this is still three-times the “normal” number of foreclosures before the real estate market crash. From the period of 2000 – 2006, there were an average of 252,000 homes foreclosed on per year. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Has 4th Highest Homeownership Rate of Major Metros in U.S.

Almost 3 of every 4 housing units (73.8 percent) in St. Louis is occupied by a homeowner making St. Louis 4th in terms of homeownership of the 75 largest major metropolitan areas in the U.S. In spite of the real estate market meltdown that began back in 2007, homeownership in St. Louis has remained fairly steady falling just one-half of one percent since 4th quarter 2006 when the rate was 74.3 percent. Homeownership rates in St. Louis are 3 percent higher than those for the state of Missouri which, for the 4th quarter of 2012, was at 70.8 percent. On a national level, the homeownership rate in 4th quarter of 2012 was 65.4 percent which is down from 68.9 percent in the 4th quarter of 2006. Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosure Rate Drops Over 26 Percent From a Year Ago

The St. Louis foreclosure rate in November 2012 was 1.27 percent of all outstanding home mortgages, a decrease of 26.6 percent from a year before when the rate was 1.73 percent, according to a report just released by Corelogic. Foreclosure rates in St. Louis were well above the national foreclosure rate for November 2012 of 2.97 percent. In addition, mortgage delinquency rates declined in November 2012 as well falling to 4.39 percent of all mortgage loans (90 days + delinquent), down from 5.00 percent in November 2011. Continue Reading →

New home sales increased almost 20 percent in 2012 and prices increased almost 14 percent

New home sales activity slowed at the end of 2012 with new homes selling in December at a seasonally adjusted rate of 369,000, a decline of 7.3 percent from the month before but an increase of 8.8 percent from December 2011, according to the December 2012 new home sales report from the Commerce Department. This means 2012 ended with an increase of almost 20 percent in new home sales from 2011 when there were just 306,000 new homes sold. Also on a positive note, the median price of new homes increased from $218,600 in December 2011 to $248,900 in December 2012 while, during the same period, the inventory of new homes for sale in the U.S. declined from a 5.4 month supply to 4.9 months. Continue Reading →

Number Of Homeowners That Think Now Is A Good Time to Sell On The Rise

The number of homeowners with an intent to sell that think now is a good time to sell, increased almost 50 percent in the Redfin survey that was just released today from the prior survey three months ago. Today, 22 percent of the homeowners surveyed said now was a good time to sell, up from 15 percent in the prior quarter. Eighty-one percent (81%) of those surveyed feel home prices will rise in the coming year and that is up from 75 percent in the prior quarter. Continue Reading →

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remembered

One of the most important accomplishments of Dr King and the Civil Rights movement was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which was signed into law on July 2, 1964 and prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for integration of schools and made employment discrimination illegal. It did not, however, make discrimination in housing illegal which Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement continued to work toward. Continue Reading →

The Number of Homeowners With Negative Equity Continues to Decline

Rising home prices helped 100,000 homeowners in the U.S. crawl out of a negative equity position during the 3rd quarter of 2012, according to a report just released by CoreLogic®. During the first nine months of 2012, there were a total of 1.4 million homeowners that found themselves moving from a negative equity position on their homes to a positive equity position. In spite of this vast improvement, twenty two percent of homeowners in the U.S. with a mortgage owe more on their homes than they are currently worth. Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update Video for January 2013

The St. Louis Real Estate Market is still dealing with the effects of foreclosures and other distressed sales but continues to show some improvement, and even what I would describe as a sustained recovery in some neighborhoods though certainly not all. To get the latest St. Louis Real Estate Stats and the latest, best and most comprehensive St Louis Real Estate Data, check out our 5-minute video update below for January for the St Louis real estate market. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. (Check out all our market update videos on our YouTube Channel – click here. Continue Reading →

St Louis Saw Increased Foreclosure Activity in 2012

During 2012, 18,242 St Louis homeowners received a foreclosure notice, or were in some stage of the foreclosure process, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. This means 2012 came to an end with 12.02 percent more foreclosures than the year before however there were over 16 percent fewer St. Louis foreclosures than in 2010 when foreclosure activity peaked. Continue Reading →

Are St Louis Home Prices Really Increasing Or Are There Just Fewer Distressed Sales?

A report released today by Radarlogic suggests that the housing market is not really recovering as much as it may appear, particularly with regard to home prices. The report says that, the 9.2 percent increase they saw in their home price index for the 12 month period ended November 30, 2012 was the result of a “significant shift in the composition of home sales and overstates the appreciation in individual properties.” The report goes on to say if motivated sales (REO’s, foreclosures, short-sales) are removed from the data, then the “real” increase in home prices was just over half of what their index showed. Continue Reading →

Foreclosure Inventory On The Decline But Trend May Be Short-Lived

The foreclosure inventory in the U.S. dropped to 3.51 percent in November, a decline of 2.84 percent from the month before, according to the November Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services. This trend may not continue though as, during the same period, the mortgage delinquency rate (the precursor to foreclosures) increased 1.2 percent from the month before and has increased 3.7 percent since August. Continue Reading →

St Louis Inventory of Homes For Sales Increases 3 Percent While Price Per Foot Stays Flat

On a national real estate site I write for I did an article earlier today about a report that came out indicating the inventory of homes for sale in 35 major metro markets had dropped by 27 percent in the past year while the price per foot of those homes increased about 10 percent. This prompted me to take a look at the St. Louis market to see how it did in comparison and, as the chart below shows, St. Louis has seen a different result with the inventory of homes for sale increasing somewhat in the past year while home prices (on a per square foot basis) remained relatively flat. In January 2012, there were 13,304 homes for sale in the St Louis metro area and today there are 13,758, an increase of 3.4 percent. St Louis metro area home prices per foot are at $95.97 today and were at $95.86 a year ago. Continue Reading →

Demand for rental property likely to increase over next two decades

dennis-norman-realtorIf you have tried to buy a rental property lately in St. Louis then you have discovered you are not alone and the competition for good rental property is quite intense. The reason is simple, experienced investors as well as new ones see real estate as a safe investment and, in many ways, a much better alternative to other investments. Part of the reason for this is the demand for rental housing, brought on as a result of many former homeowners that have been forced, or have chosen, to rent instead of own and “would-be” homeowners that are unable to meet tougher requirements for mortgages thereby forced to remain tenants. Continue Reading →

Shadow Inventory In October Down Over 12 Percent from Year Ago

Shadow Inventory (properties with seriously delinquent mortgages, are in foreclosure or owned by lenders (REO) but not currently listed on the MLS) are a leading indicator of future foreclosure rates so it is good to see that the shadow inventory in the U.S. in October fell to 2.3 million units, a decline of 12.3 percent from a year ago, according to a report from CoreLogic. Continue Reading →

Happy New Year!

Pending Home Sales Increase in November to Highest Level in Over Two Years

The National Association of REALTORS’ (NAR) Pending Home Sales report for November, 2012 shows home sales increased 1.7 percent in November from the month before and increased 9.8 percent from a year ago. Pending home sales have now increased on a year over year basis for 19 consecutive months, according to NAR.

What are going to be the hot St Louis real estate markets in 2013?

I don’t know that “hot” comes to mind when I think about any St Louis real estate market today, however, relative to the rest of the market, I think I can identify some St. Louis real estate markets that I feel are poised to perform better in 2013 than other St Louis markets. Below are my charts showing some key market data for the top markets. Included in my data are 4 pieces of information that I think are key to determining the health of a local real estate market:

Home prices – I show what prices have done over Continue Reading →

New home sales pace in Midwest declines in November

New home sales in November in the Midwest region were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 49,000 homes, a decrease of 12.5 percent from the month before and a decrease of 5.8 percent from a year ago, according to the new home sales for November 2012 just released by the Commerce Department. The new home sales numbers for the Midwest are in pretty sharp contrast to the national numbers which showed new home sales up 4.4 percent in November from the month before and up 15.3 percent from a year ago Continue Reading →

Forecasters say home price increases to be at "pre-bubble" levels next year; no impact by change in MID

A panel of 105 professional economic forecasters from all around the country expect home prices to increase 3.1 percent in 2013, according to the December 2012 Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey. Forecasters are more optimistic about home prices than they were just three months earlier when they predicted 2013 home prices would only increase by 2.4 percent. Continue Reading →

What home buyers want in their next new home

The real estate recession and weak economy has not pushed homebuyers into downsizing their next home, at least not according to the results of a survey conducted by national home builder, PulteGroup. In fact, 84 percent of homeowners between the ages of 18 and 59 said they do not have plans to downsize their next home. Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau supports this notion as well, with the average size of a new home increasing to 2,480 square feet in 2011, an increase of 3.7 percent from the year before. Continue Reading →

Merry Christmas!

Photo by: John Pavelka