Home Prices and Sales - St Louis Real Estate News

St Charles County Real Estate Market On Fire!

By Dennis Norman, on May 27th, 2021

While most of the current real estate market is doing quite well, and has for some time, the St Charles County real estate market has been on fire lately! Highlights from the the reports and charts below include (which are available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS):

For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2021 there were 6,620 homes sold in St Charles County, an increase of 13% from the prior 12-month period. For the most recent period noted above, the median price of homes sold in St Charles County was $271,240, and an increase of nearly 9% from the prior period. Continue Reading →

About Half of Consumers Surveyed Think Home Prices and Interest Rates are Going Up

By Dennis Norman, on May 13th, 2021

Every month Fannie Mae surveys consumers about owning and renting a home as well as about other issues related to the housing market and economy and from the results publish their Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI). One of the components of the index is what the sentiment is on whether now is a good time to buy a home or sell a home. In the April 2021 HPSI 49% of consumers felt home prices would go up in the next 12-months and 54% felt interest rates would increase in the next 12-months.

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St Louis Area Housing Market Report For April

By Dennis Norman, on May 12th, 2021

In spite of the challenge of a low-inventory housing market, St Louis City and County, St Charles County and Franklin County all saw double-digit increases in the number of homes sold in April while Jefferson County saw a double digit decline. As the charts below illustrate, the median price of homes sold in those counties increased from a year ago in all the counties, two of them in the double digits.

Not all housing data is the same….nor accurate for that matter…

One thing worth noting is that there are housing market reports out there from many different Continue Reading →

Why St Louis Is Not Headed Toward Another Housing Market Bubble or Crash

By Dennis Norman, on May 5th, 2021

Lately, I’ve noticed several articles questioning whether the kind of crazy real estate market we’ve in for a while now is reminiscent of the early 2000’s which lead to a housing bubble that eventually burst in 2008. Granted, even in St Louis where we tend to not see the market extremes one way or the other like the coasts do, one could get the idea that maybe we’re headed that way with buyer’s fighting over new listings and bidding wars that have homes often selling for over the list price. However, in my humble opinion, this market is very different Continue Reading →

St Louis Luxury Home Sales Trended Upward For 10 Consecutive Months

By Dennis Norman, on April 26th, 2021

The St Louis luxury home market (homes priced at $700,000 or above) after remaining relatively flat for about a year has been steadily trending upward for now 10-months in a row. Even though April is not over, there have already been more sales of Luxury homes closed than for the month before, so April will make the 10th month of increased sales activity.

As the STL Market Chart below shows (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®), sales of luxury homes in St Louis City and County and St Charles County, have increased from 694 sales for the 12-month period ended April Continue Reading →

New Contracts For Home Sales Over 50 Percent Higher Than For Same Period Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2021

The inventory of homes for sale may be low, but that doesn’t appear to be slowing down the pace of home sales. As the STL Real Estate Trends Report below shows (which is exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) during the most recent week that data is available for, there were 1,151 new contracts written on listings in the St Louis MSA, an increase of 54% from the same period a year ago when there were 746 contracts written.

New listings are up as well during the same period. Again, referring to STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS® this Continue Reading →

Is The St Louis MSA Real Estate Market Better in Missouri or Illinois?

By Dennis Norman, on March 31st, 2021

There are a total of seventeen counties that make up the St Louis MSA with 9 of them being on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River and the other 8 on the Illinois side. For some reason, I was curious today if the portion of the St Louis MSA in one state was outperforming the other or if they were performing about the same. I guess my expectation was probably the latter but the data showed that in fact, during the past three months, they were closed, but each state has its bragging rights depending on which data Continue Reading →

New Sales Of Listings Are Outpacing New Listings

By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2021

As any home buyer in the market is well aware no doubt, we have a low inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis MSA. As the STL Market Report below shows (which is exclusivley available from MORE, REALTORS®) there is currently just a 1.2 month supply of active listings in the St Louis metro area. It doesn’t look like the situation is improving either as MORE’s Local Home Trends Reports at the bottom show that new contracts in the past two weeks have outpaced new listings during the same period. There were 2,105 new contracts written for the Continue Reading →

St Louis 12-Month Home Sales Sets 15-Year Record In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2021

For the 12-month period ended February 28, 2021, there were 29,402 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market. As the 15-year chart below (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®) shows, this is the highest 12-month sales period in more than 15 years! Going back to 2006, a historic banner year for real estate, we find that the 12-month period ended March 31, 2006, came in close at 28,797 homes sold, but that’s a little over 2% below our most recent 12-month period.

But, can St Louis home sales keep up this pace?

Having a record-setting period for home sales Continue Reading →

21 Zips In 5-County Core Where Listing Inventory Is More Than Double The Median

By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2021

If you are in the process of trying to find a home to purchase or have gone through the process in the last couple of years, I don’t need to tell you how low the inventory of homes for sale is. Currently, in the St Louis 5-County core market, there is less than a one-month supply of homes for sale (0.85 months).

However, within that area, there are 21 zip codes that have a current supply of at least double that, 1.7 months or more. As the chart below shows, the supply of homes for sale in these zip codes Continue Reading →

Jefferson County Home Prices Increase in February While Sale Plummet

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Jefferson County climbed to $200,413 in February from $192,000 the month before and sales plummeted from 220 in January to 81 in February.

In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $180,000 so the price of $200,413 last month represents an 11 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 217 so with just 81 homes sold last month, there was a 63% decline in sales for the month.

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Jefferson County Home Prices and Sales

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Franklin County Home Prices and Sales Last Month Up Double-Digits From A Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Franklin County remained at $196,000 in February the same as the month before. There were 82 homes sold in Franklin County in February, one more than the month before.

In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $155,000 so the price of $196,000 last month represents a 26 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 59 so the number of homes sold last month was 39% higher than a year ago.

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Franklin County Home Prices and Sales

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St Charles County Median Price Of Homes Sold Spikes in February

By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Charles County jumped to $275,000 last month approaching the record-high price of $279,000 set this past August. This is the second consecutive month the median price has increased and is contrary to the norm. Last year home prices fell to a low of $235,000 in February.

Though home prices didn’t follow the typical pattern and fall during the winter in St Charles County, home sales did. Home sales last month followed that pattern falling to 333 homes sold, similar to last year’s February sales of 320 homes.

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St Louis City and County Home Prices Rebound In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2021

As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis City and County jumped to $220,000 last month from $204,000 the month before. While home prices increased during the month, the number of homes sold fell slightly to 1,027 homes in the two-county area, down from 1,085 the month before.

As the table below the chart shows, there have been nearly 18,000 homes sold during the past 12 months in the City and County of St Louis at a median sold price of $220,580. The homes sold during the past 12 months sold for a median Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Home Sales Trend At Highest Level In Over 10 Years

By Dennis Norman, on March 9th, 2021

In spite of having been in a low-inventory market for the past few years, home sales in St Louis have continued strong. In fact, as the home sales trend chart below, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®, shows home sales trend for the 12-month period ending February 28th was at the highest level in over 10-years.

The chart includes the St Louis 5-County core market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson) and shows that for the 12-month period ending last month there were 28,571 homes sold (distressed home sales have been Continue Reading →

Half of the Fastest-Selling Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA are in St Louis County

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2021

As the list below shows, five of the ten zip codes in the St Louis MSA where homes that closed in the past 30 days sold the fastest are in St Louis County. However, the fastest-sold zip code was 63052 in Jefferson County and includes the cities Imperial, Kimmswick, Antonia, and Liguori.

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Ten Fastest-Selling Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA

(click on the list for a complete and current list)

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Seven Of the Ten Fastest-Selling School Districts In St Louis MSA are in Outer Ring Counties

By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2021

As the list below shows, seven of the ten school districts in the St Louis MSA where homes are selling the fastest, are in outer-ring counties, with the remaining three districts being in St Louis County. This list is based upon the average time it took homes to sell that closed in the past 30 days and Wright City R-II District came in at the top of the list with an average of 14 days for homes to sell. St Charles County was home to the largest number of the fastest-selling school districts with 4 followed by St Louis County Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – February 2021

By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2021

The St Louis real estate market has started off 2021 strong, but is a change coming? Closings of home sales in January were strong with more sales closing than in January of last year, but with everything going and the uncertainty of the economy will it continue? I address both the current state of the St Louis real estate market, as well as discuss our “leading indicator” data which gives us a glimpse of where the market is headed in the St Louis Real Estate Market Update video you can access below. [xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video-Package”] [xyz-ips snippet=”Seller-Resources—Listing-Targeted”] Continue Reading →

St Louis’s Most Expensive Home Sale In The Last Two Years

By Dennis Norman, on February 20th, 2021

One of the many benefits to living in St Louis is it’s a very affordable place to live and much easier to be a homeowner than in most other major metro areas. Having said that, we do have areas, such as Ladue, Huntleigh, and Clayton to name a few where we do see home prices that are out of reach for most of the folks living here. One such example is a magnificent 10,000+ square foot Ladue manse that sold earlier this month. At a final sales price of $6,150,000, it is the highest-priced home sale in the REALTOR® MLS Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Trend For February Down From Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2021

The St Louis real estate market has slowed a little in February thus far. As the Local Market Trends reports (availably exclusively from MORE, REALTORS® ) show, new contracts written on listings as well as new listings in St Louis 5-County Core market, were down in each of the first two weeks of February both from the prior week as well as from the same period a year ago.

New contracts written (new sales):

As the reports below show, there were 590 new contracts written (new sales) on homes during the 2nd week of February which was 13% fewer contracts Continue Reading →

St Louis County Home Sales Trend Outpacing New Listings By Larger Margin Then Neighboring Counties

By Dennis Norman, on February 15th, 2021

It’s no secret that listings of homes for sale in St Louis are in short supply and for a while now new sales have outpaced new listings making it a challenge for home buyers. However, over the past couple of months, new sales of homes in St Louis County have outpaced new listings by a greater margin than neighboring counties. As can be compiled from the tables below, new sales of homes in the St Louis 5-County Core market during the last four months outpaced new listings during the same period by 12.7%. For St Louis county, there were 6,095 Continue Reading →

St Louis MSA Counties In Missouri Outperforming Illinois Counties

By Dennis Norman, on January 29th, 2021

The residential real estate market in counties in the Missouri portion of the St Louis metropolitan area appear to be outperforming the St Louis MSA counties in Illinois, according to the latest New Contracts Report below, exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®. As the report shows, for the most recent week reported, new contracts written on residential listings were up 14% for the St Louis MSA as a whole from the same week a year ago, but most of the increase in sales was in the Missouri portion of the MSA. Overall, in the St Louis MSA, there were 105 more new Continue Reading →

St Louis’ Most Expensive School Districts To Buy A Home In

By Dennis Norman, on January 26th, 2021

It probably won’t come as a surprise that many of St Louis’ best school districts also have some of St Louis’ most expensive home prices. As the list below shows, the Ladue School district has the highest-priced homes with the average price for homes sold in the past 12 months at nearly $900,000. Of the top 10 highest priced school districts, 8 are in St Louis County, one in St Charles County and one in Franklin County.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis 5-County Core’s Most Expensive School Districts

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St Louis Has 5 Municipalities Where Average Sold Home Is Over $1 Million

By Dennis Norman, on January 25th, 2021

One of the benefits to living in St Louis we often hear about is how affordable it is compared with many other metro areas around the country. Granted, one of the things that contribute to the “affordability” is the price of homes but that doesn’t mean we don’t have areas with pricey real estate here. The list below is part of the list showing what the average price homes sold for in every municipality in the St Louis MSA during the past 12 months and reveals the five municipalities where the average home price exceeded $1 Million.

Leading the list Continue Reading →

Top 10 St Louis Area School Districts Where Homes Are Selling the Fastest

By Dennis Norman, on January 20th, 2021

As of this morning, the Hancock Place School District and Bayless School District, both in the South St Louis County area, are tied for the district where homes are selling the fastest. As the Fastest-Selling School Districts in the St Louis MSA list (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®) below shows, homes that sold in the past 30 days in those districts took an average of just 17 days to sell. Five of the top 10 districts for fast home sales are located in St Louis County, two are in Jefferson County, one each in St Charles County, Warren County, and Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Trending Upward Aggressively

By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2021

Most residential real estate data is published based upon closed deals meaning the transaction is already in the past and it’s activity may not be reflective of the current market. This is why at MORE, REALTORS® we developed our leading indicators report that I shared a few days ago and also why we developed a home sale trends chart. The home sales trend chart, such as the one shown below for the St Louis 5-County Core real estate market, is still based upon closed sales however each monthly data point represents the total of the closed sales in the proceeding Continue Reading →

Distressed Home Sales In St Louis Down 25% Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2021

As I reported a couple of days ago, home sales (non-distressed) in St Louis were up around 8% in 2020 verses 2019 however, distressed home sales were down 25% in 2020 from the year before. For several months of 2020, there were moratoriums on foreclosures which would lower the number of distressed sales and are no doubt largely responsible for the decline in sales. For the sake of this report, “distressed” sales include foreclosures, short sales, and property owned by banks or the government.

During 2020, there were 894 sales of distressed homes, down 25% from 2019 when there were Continue Reading →

St Louis Condo Sales Flat In 2020 but Prices Up

By Dennis Norman, on January 15th, 2021

Yesterday, I reported that St Louis area home sales and prices were both up about 8% during 2020 from 2019 so today we’ll take a look at how condominium sales and prices compared during the same period.

As the STL Market Report shows (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®), in the 5-County Core St Louis market there were 3,567 condominiums sold during 2020, 10 condominiums less than the 3,577 condominiums sold during 2019. The median price of condos sold in 2020 in this St Louis market was $163,900, an increase of 5.74% from 2019 when the median price was $155,000.

The Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales And Prices Both Up About 8 Percent in 2020 From 2019

By Dennis Norman, on January 14th, 2021

In spite of the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, stay at home orders, a shaky economy and a fair amount of social unrest, 2020 still managed to be a good year for residential real estate! As the STL Market Report shows (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®), in the 5-County Core St Louis market there were 28,131 homes sold during 2020, an increase of 8.27% from 2019 when there were just 25,982 homes sold. The median price of homes sold in 2020 in this St Louis market was $232,000, an increase of 7.93% from 2019 when the median price was $214,950.

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Newly written contracts on homes start off year up 20%

By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2021

During the final days of December and the first couple of January, there were 393 new contracts written on homes that were for sale, an increase of 20% over the same period a year ago. As the New Contracts Report below shows (availablle exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®) all 5 counties in the 5-County Core St Louis market saw an increase in new contracts written over the same period a year ago. Franklin County saw the largest increase at 50%.

New Contracts On Homes For Sale

(click on report for live report)

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