By Dennis Norman, on March 25th, 2023 For the past several months there have been many reports anticipating the moves of the Federal Reserve regarding interest rates then followed by tons of articles, blog posts and videos analyzing then predicting the impact of the Fed’s decision on the economy. The other popular topic in this area is the “Money Supply”, usually M2 money supply and whether it’s increasing or decreasing as well as the impact on the economy.
Should St Louis homeowners and potential home buyers really care about the Fed Funds rate or M2 money supply?
First, let’s talk about the Fed Funds rate and what Continue Reading →
By John Donati, on March 22nd, 2023 
What happens when you pair up Ted Gottlieb, Certified Senior Advisor® (CSA®) that’s a real estate broker with a real estate broker (me) that’s Smart Home Certified? You end up with solutions for older adults that allow them to live more efficiently, for longer, in their current home by increasing safety, security, accessibility and independence. Before I get to the Smart Stuff, let me explain what a CSA® is and how rare it is for a REALTOR® to also be a CSA®. Ted is the first, and only as of this article, in Missouri to achieve this.
A Certified Senior Continue Reading →
By Ted Gottlieb, on March 21st, 2023 Note: I’m generalizing ……..
Seniors don’t want to leave their homes. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told “I want to be carried out feet first”.
For most, the thought of selling the home is overwhelming – often paralyzing. Maybe it’s the memories, the years of accumulated “stuff”, lack of energy or the fear of what comes next. No matter the reason, just like you and me, older adults want to be where they feel safe. Enjoying their “independence” – when many times they are anything but.
So, it’s status quo until a life event Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2023 Should I rent or buy a home in St Louis? This is a question St Louis REALTORS® are often asked, especially in the past few years while homes appeared to be increasing weekly, there were often more than a dozen offers on a listing and generally the market seemed out of control. Granted, some of that pandemonium has eased somewhat lately given the increase in interest rates and questions about the economy but the question still remains. While there are many non-financial reasons people choose to buy their own home or condo versus rent, we’ll just look at the cost Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2023 There were 28,500 homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market during the 12-month period ended February, 28, 2023 a decline of 16.80% from the prior 12-months when 34,256 homes were sold according to MORE REALTORS® exclusive STL Market Report below. As the report below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis increased 7.62% during the same period.
While the supply of St Louis homes for sale is still historically very low, it has increased significantly over the past two years rising from under a 1-month supply to the current 1.64 month supply of homes currently Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2023 Below is our St Louis Real Estate Market Report for February 2023 for the City and County of St Louis combined. You can access the full infographic, containing data for St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin Counties as well by clicking on the image below.
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis Real Estate Report for February 2023
(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 6th, 2023 Allied Van Lines just released its Allied Magnet States Report which revealed that, across the U.S., fewer people moved in 2022 than in 2021. The report shows the number of people moving to or from a State as well as for the metropolitan areas located in that state. For last year, Missouri was considered a “balanced” state with the numbers of inbound and outbound movers being about the same at 52.3% and 47.7% respectively. Our neighbor to the east, Illinois, didn’t fair as well. Illinois was labeled as a “high outbound” state for 2022 with 66.1% of the moves being Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 2nd, 2023 During the 4th quarter of 2022, 7,622 home buyers in St Louis applied for a home mortgage according to the latest report from ATTOM Data. According to the report, this is the lowest number of mortgage applications in a quarter from home buyers in St Louis since the 1st quarter of 2011 when there were just 5,629 applications. Mortgage applications to purchase a home peaked in St Louis in the 3rd quarter of 2005 when there were 18,002 applications.
As the chart below illustrates, the drop in St Louis homeowners refinancing their mortgage is even more dramatic. During the last Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2023 Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a reduction in the mortgage insurance premium charged to borrowers on FHA loans. The mortgage insurance premium is a charge over and above the interest on the loan that is the fee to HUD for insuring the loan. Currently, the FHA mortgage insurance premium varies from 0.45% to 1.05% of the loan amount depending upon the loan term (15 or 30 years) and the LTV (loan to value). Effective with FHA mortgages endorsed for insurance by FHA on or after March 20, 2023, the rate will be reduced by Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2023 There have been a fair number of reports about the increase in distressed home sales in various markets around the country and on the national level. However, in St Louis, distressed home sales are on the rise, they are still at levels that are historically quite low.
Distressed home sales that involve some sort of distress or other condition that would typically result in the home not selling for a normal “retail” price like it would if it were a typical listing in market ready condition with normal marketing time allowed. The chart below shows distressed home sales in the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 15th, 2023 Last week, there were 405 new listings of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-county core market, according to the STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS®. During the same week, there were 365 new sale contracts written on homes for sale resulting in a new listing to new contract ratio of 1.11. As the tables below illustrate, the only county that had more new sales last week than new listings was Franklin County with 16 new sales and 15 new listings.
Listing supply remains low…
As the table at the bottom shows, as of today, there is Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 9th, 2023 Last week, there were 350 new listings of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-county core market, according to the STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS®. During the same week, there were 442 new sale contracts written on homes for sale resulting in a new listing to new contract ratio of 1.26. So while new contracts are still out numbering new listings, last weeks margin was much lower than a year ago during the same week. As the tables below show, last year during the same week there were only 266 new listings of homes for sale Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 7th, 2023 According to data released by ATTOM Data Research, during the fourth quarter of 2022, 42.37% of the homeowners with a mortgage within the 63376 zip code, were “equity-rich” meaning their mortgage balance was just 50% or less of the current value of their home. The table below shows the 10 St Louis zip codes with the highest percentage of equity-rich mortgages. Half of zip codes on the list are located within the St Charles County, four in St Louis County and one in Jefferson County
Also shown on the table is the percentage of homeowners with a seriously-underwater mortgage, meaning Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 6th, 2023 According to data released by ATTOM Data Research, during the fourth quarter of 2022, 35.7% of the homeowners with a mortgage within the 63118 zip code, were seriously underwater on their mortgage, meaning their mortgage balance exceeds the value of their home by 25% or more. The table below shows the 10 St Louis zip codes with the highest percentage of seriously underwater mortgages. Half of zip codes on the list are located within the City of St Louis and the other half are located in North St Louis County.
Also shown on the table is the percentage of homeowners Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 13th, 2023 The median price of homes sold in Franklin County increased from 2021 to 2022 at nearly double the rate the price of homes sold in St Louis County did during the same period. As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Franklin County during 2021 was $206,000 and then increased 6.7% to $219,800 in 2022. During the same period, the median price of homes sold in St Louis County increased 3.4% from 246,500 to $255,000.
[xyz-ips snippet=”Franklin-County-For-Sale-and-Open-Houses”][xyz-ips snippet=”St-Lous-County-Homes-For-Sale”]
Franklin County vs St Louis County Home Prices – 2021-2022
(click on chart for live, interactive Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 25th, 2022
By Dennis Norman, on December 20th, 2022 Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released details of a Consent Order they reached with Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in which Wells Fargo is ordered to pay “more than $2 billion in redress to consumers and a $1.7 billion civil penalty for legal violations across several of its largest product lines.” According to a press release issued by the CFPB, Wells Fargo’s “..illegal conduct led to billions of dollars in financial harm to its customers and, for thousands of customers, the loss of their vehicles and homes.” Rohit Chopra, the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, stated “Wells Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 20th, 2022 As the chart below illustrates, yesterday, mortgage interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate conventional mortgage increased slightly to 6.27% after dropping to 6.13% last Thursday, the lowest level in over 3 months.
Historically-speaking, it’s not that bad….
Granted, no one really wants to hear this, but, if we look at the bigger picture (like the bottom chart that goes back to 1971) we’ll see that our current mortgage interest rates aren’t that high. In fact, over the 52-year period depicted on the chart, about 70% of the time mortgage interest rates were higher than they are now. If you’re Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 15th, 2022 There were 900 homes and condominiums “flipped” during the third quarter in the St Louis M.S.A., according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions. As the chart below illustrates, these flips represent 6.6% of all sales during the 3rd quarter of 2022, a decrease of 28.8% from the prior quarter but an increase of over 15% from a year ago.
[xyz-ips snippet=”Foreclosures-For-Sale-and-Homes-For-Sale”]
St Louis Home Flipping Trends
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2022 There were 4,499 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended October 31, 2022, a decrease of 7.01% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,838 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). Five of the seven counties covered in the report saw a decrease in building permits from the same period a year ago with three of the counties have a double digit decline. Franklin County came out the big winner with nearly Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 2nd, 2022 This week the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) announced that the limits for all conforming home loans to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie-Mac (most of the conventional home loans originated) will increase to $726,200 on January 1, 2023. This is an increase of $79,000 for the current loan limit of $647,200.
Also this week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced that the limits for all FHA loans will increase to between $472,030 and $1,089,300 for single-family homes depending on the area the property is located in. Below are the limits for the low cost mortgage areas as well Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 1st, 2022 According to results just released by Lending Tree from a survey they conducted in October, 41% of American’s surveyed expect the housing market to crash next year. As the table below, which shows the results by generation, the Millennials are the most pessimistic about the market with 44% of the millennials surveyed believing the housing market is headed to a crash. The most optimistic generation? Baby boomers, with only 35% of the generation I belong to believing we are headed to a crash.
Inflation is the leading culprit…
Of those surveyed that believe the housing market is headed for a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 25th, 2022 As the chart below illustrates, on November 10th, mortgage interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped sharply from 7.22% the day before to 6.62% on the 10th. Since dropping, interest rates have remained around the 6.6% level.
Historically, the current rates are not bad, but that does lessen the impact…
As the bottom chart below shows, interest rates have been above the current levels for over half the period. However, understandably, that doesn’t mean much to first-time home buyers or younger homebuyers as for over the past 10 years the rates have been much less, even to the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on November 23rd, 2022 Is the St Louis real estate market going to crash? The national news is filled lately with reports of slowing housing markets throughout the country, increasing inventories, falling sales and prices. Some prognosticators are predicting some metro areas will see home prices fall by as much as 40 or 50 percent. Is the St Louis real estate market on a similar trajectory?? While I can’t predict the future, I can share data to help you see where the St Louis real estate market is currently as well as where the data shows it’s headed.
[xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video–Media-Center”]
[xyz-ips snippet=”Seller-Resources—Listing-Targeted”]
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By Dennis Norman, on November 9th, 2022 The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo, jointly publish quarterly their Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) which shows the affordability, or lack thereof, of homes to a typical family. To arrive at an index value the median home price of recently sold homes for an area is taken into account as well as the median income for a family in that area. From this data the index is computed to show how affordable the typical home is to a typical family. The higher the index, the more affordable homes are to buyers in that market and the lower Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 28th, 2022 As the tables below show, so far during October there have been 52 home sales closed in Franklin County, down 43% from the same period last year when there were 91 sales closed. The median sold price this month for those closed sales in Franklin County has been $210,000 an increase of over 12 percent from the same period last year when the median prices homes in Franklin County sold for was $187,000.
The time it took listings to sell actually improved slightly with the median time being 43 days last October and 4o days this month. Last year the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 28th, 2022 As the tables below show, so far during October there have been 704 home sales closed in St Louis County, down 26% from the same period last year when there were 955 sales closed. The median sold price this month for those closed sales in St Louis County has been $255,000 an increase of over 10 percent from the same period last year when the median prices homes in St Louis County sold for was $231,000. The time it took listings to sell has not changed with both periods having a median of 12 days and homes sold for a Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 27th, 2022 As the tables below show, so far during October there have been 278 home sales closed in St Charles County, down 28% from the same period last year when there were 388 sales closed. The median sold price this month for those closed sales in St Charles County has been $337,000 an increase of over 12 percent from the same period last year when the median prices homes in St Charles County sold for was 300. Another bit of data which is illustrates the overbidding we’ve seen in the past that has quickly come to an end for the most Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 27th, 2022 Monthly, Fannie Mae surveys consumers to gauge their sentiment toward whether it’s a good time to buy or sell a home and publishes the result in their Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI). As the chart below illustrates, in the most recent survey, which was just released, the HPSI index was at 60.8, the lowest level in nearly 11 years. No doubt the higher interest rates and softening economy are taking their toll on homebuyer’s optimism about the prospects of buying a home in the current market. This marks the seventh-consecutive monthly decline in the index and the first time since Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 18th, 2022 The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released their NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) report for October 2022 and, not surprisingly, it shows the builders are continuing to lose confidence in the market. As our chart below shows, the Housing Market Index (HMI), the red line, peaked in November 2020 at 90 and has, with the exception of a few minor upticks along the way, fallen ever since reaching 38, the lowest level since August 2012 when it fell to 37.
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis New Homes For Sale Single Family Housing Continue Reading →
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