Ninety-six percent of American’s think now is a good time to buy a house according to survey

According to a national survey released today by Prudential Real Estate, Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That’s up from 52 percent last year. The survey shows other signs of increased consumer optimism as well: Continue Reading →

St Louis rents on the rise while home prices on the decline

A report released today by Zillow shows that median rents rose 6.1 percent in St Louis to $1,085 from January 2011 to January 2012 while, during the same period, home prices fell 6.9 percent to $120,300. According to the report, over two-thirds (69.2 percent) of the metro areas covered saw year-over-year gains in rents but only 7.3 percent of the metros saw home values rise during the same period. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; March 2012

Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare monthly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the month as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. 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 →

Home buyers more motivated by updated kitchens than media rooms

A survey conducted by Coldwell Banker of it’s real estate agents across North America revealed that home buyers are motivated by lifestyle needs and are more willing to buy homes with updated kitchens and open floor plans than homes with “trendy” media rooms. Continue Reading →

Report shows optimism for real estate market; home prices up in one of every 4 markets

Today, CoreLogic, a leading provider of real estate market information, released its March CoreLogic MarketPulse report which had a fairly optimistic outlook on the market including the fact that today 25 percent of all markets are experiencing increases in home prices which is in stark contrast to the height of the housing bust when 96 percent of all markets saw home prices fall. Continue Reading →

Home prices decline in January; sixth consecutive month of decline

A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in January 3.1 percent from the year before and declined by 1.0 percent from the month before marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline in home prices. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011 and month-over-month home prices increased 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions. Continue Reading →

St Louis ranked 15th worst performing metro market in U.S.

Ugh, not the list we want to be on! Clear Capital just released it’s monthly Home Data Index™ (HDI) for March, which includes a list of the 15 best performing real estate markets in the U.S. as well as the 15 worst performing markets in the U.S and, unfortunately, St Louis is on the worst performing list…albeit barely. Continue Reading →

Underwater St Louis homeowners on the rise

A report just released by CoreLogic shows that, at the end of fourth quarter 2011, there were 107,183 underwater St. Louis homeowners, or, to put it another way, St Louis homeowners with negative equity accounted for 18.8 percent of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage. This is up from 17.1 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2011. In addition, 6.1 percent, or 34,639 St Louis homeowners, were in near negative equity for fourth quarter 2011 compared to 5.9 percent, or 33,694, in third quarter 2011. Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures in 2011 Remain Flat; Sold for about half of non-distressed sales

St. Louis foreclosure sales in 2011 numbered 7.894, about the same as the year before, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac. The 2011 St Louis Foreclosure sales were down almost 20 percent from 2009 and accounted for about 17 percent of all home sales in 2011. Continue Reading →

Case-Shiller Home Price Index Falls to New Low in December; Maybe sign of new period of decline

This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for December was released showing all three of the home price composites ended the year at new index lows. The national composite fell by 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011 and was down 4.0 percent from the year before. Both the 10-city and 20-city composites fell by 1.1 percent in December from the month before and the home price indexes were down 3.9 percent and 4.0 percent respectively from the year before. All three composites are at their lowest levels sine the housing crisis began in mid-2006. Continue Reading →

Pending home sales index hits highest level since April 2010

The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for January today showing an increase of 2.0 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 8.0 percent increase from a year ago. This marks the highest level the pending home sales index has been at since April 2010 when it hit 111.3 as a result of buyers racing to buy before the homebuyer tax credit expired. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; February 24, 2012

In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. 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. Continue Reading →

New home sales decline slightly in January; Inventory of new homes to lowest level in over a year

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for January 2012 showing a decrease of 0.9 percent from the month before, and an increase of 3.5 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for January was 321,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 324,000 homes the month before. This is the first month new home sales have declined after four consecutive months of increases. Continue Reading →

Existing home sales and prices increase in January

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in January were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.57 million units which is an increase of 4.3 percent from the month before and an increase of 0.7 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in January was 257,000 which is 26.4 percent less than the month before and 4.0 percent more than a year ago when there were 246,000 homes sold. Continue Reading →

Babies and jobs key to real estate market recovery

Two things are driving home buyers into the real estate market; babies and jobs, according to a survey just released by Coldwell Banker. According to the survey, 70% of real estate professionals surveyed say the “most common” reason buyers are searching for a new home today is a result of a new baby or growing family, followed closely by a relocation for a job. Other things driving buyers into the market include marriage, divorce and retirement. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; February 17, 2012

Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare weekly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. 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 Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures Increase in January

St. Louis foreclosure activity in January 2012 increased 1.11 percent from the month before but was down 21.58 percent from year before, according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. Of the 5 largest Missouri counties within the St Louis MSA, Jefferson County saw the largest increase in foreclosures in January at 16.51 percent, following closely by St Charles County at 15.08 percent, St. Louis County at 10.4 percent and the City of St Louis with a modest 2.17 percent increase. Continue Reading →

New home construction activity picking up

The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for January 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 0.9 percent and a 1.0 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. Continue Reading →

Victims of bad foreclosure practices get more time to apply for review and possible compensation

Last November I wrote about how victims of wrongful foreclosure could apply for an independent review of their file and possibly receive compensation under a new presented by acting Comptroller of the Currency, John Walsh. The deadline to apply for this was to be April 30, 2012, however, today, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced they have extended the deadline to apply three months until July 31, 2012. Continue Reading →

REALTORS tell President Obama his budget proposal will harm housing and homeowners

Today, Moe Veissi, President of the National Association of REALTORS, issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s budget proposal: “As the leading advocate for housing and homeownership, NAR is strongly opposed to elements of President Obama’s budget proposal that would limit itemized deductions, including the mortgage interest deduction, for thousands of families.” Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; February 10, 2012

Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare weekly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. 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 →

Foreclosures in 2011 down 24 percent from 2010

According to a report just released by CoreLogic, there were 830,000 foreclosures completed during the year in 2011, a 24 percent decrease from 2010 when there were 1.1 million. For the month of December, there were 55,000 foreclosures, down 3.5 percent from November when there were 57,000 and down 17.9 percent from December 2010 when there were 67,000 foreclosures completed. Continue Reading →

Should the buyer and seller close at the same title company?

In most parts of the country, when a home is sold, the closing is handled by one title insurance company at which both the buyer and seller close at. In St Louis, “split-closings” are common, meaning that the buyer and seller close at different title companies. Is this bad, or a risky move for them? To answer this, I turned to Wendy Cromer, Vice-President of Marketing for Security Title Insurance Agency, LLC and the current President of the Missouri Land Title Association for her perspective. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; February 3, 2012

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 Foreclosures decline in November after four months of increases

The St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.69 percent for November 2011, down from 1.75 percent the month before and only up slightly from a year ago when the rate was 1.67 percent, according to newly released data from CoreLogic. As usual, the St Louis foreclosure rate is significantly lower than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.41 percent in November 2011. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update;January 27, 2012

Weekly I produce a short video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that is published on various web sites. I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the week, then an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices Continue Reading →

New homes sales fall in December and make 2011 worst year on record

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for December 2011 showing a decrease of 2.2 percent from the month before, and a decrease of 7.3 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for December was 307,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 314,000 homes the month before.  This is the first month new home sales have declined in four months and unfortunately ends the year with the lowest number of new homes sold since the Commerce Department began keeping track of sales in 1963.

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St Louis Foreclosures Continue to Decline

St. Louis foreclosure activity in the third quarter of 2011 declined 15.51 percent from the quarter before and 10.12 percent from the year before, according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. Continue Reading →

One in five home sales is a foreclosure and only two-thirds the cost of a non-foreclosure home

Foreclosure Price 34 Percent Below Average Price of Non-Foreclosures RealtyTrac, today released its third-quarter 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report, which shows that sales of homes that were in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned accounted for 20 percent of all U.S. residential sales in the third quarter of 2011, down from 22 percent of all sales in the second quarter and down from 30 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2010. Continue Reading →

Most popular cities for home searches

Realtor.com, which claims to have more traffic on it’s website than any other real estate website in the world, released their report for December showing how 146 metro areas in the U.S. stack up in terms of popularity for home searches. St. Louis did not make the top 10, but did come in at a respectable 19 however. Continue Reading →