By Dennis Norman, on September 26th, 2022 It’s no secret that the real estate market slows down in the winter and typically nearly screeches to a halt from shortly before Christmas to shortly after New Years. Therefore, when tracking showing activity in the St Louis area, the first week of January of each year is used as the base, or “0” value and then each rolling 7-day period afterward is compared to that first week.
As the chart below shows, in 2020 and 2021 all weekly averages of showing activity were above the baseline of January until getting close to Thanksgiving, with the one exception being late Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2022 On Monday of this week, a federal lawsuit was filed in the United Status District Court for the Western District of Washington by Natalie Perkins and Kenneth Hasson against Zillow Group, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation. The suit was filed as a class action complaint on behalf of “All natural persons in the United States and its territories whose Website Communications were captured through the use of Session Replay Code embedded in Zillow’s website”.
In the complaint, the plaintiff’s allege that the defendants, Zillow and Microsoft, violated the Washington Wiretapping Statute (Wash. Rev. Code §9.73.030, et. seq.) through the use of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 12th, 2022 Apparently a lot of consumers are concerned about the housing market crashing or at least concerned enough to be online searching for answers. According to Google Trends the search phrase “Will The Housing Market Crash?” has hit it’s 5-year peak in terms of interest level during the last 4-5 months. In addition, according to Google Adwords tools, there are 10,000 – 100,000 searches for month for the phrase “Will The Housing Market Crash?” and 100,000 – 1,000, 000 monthly searches for “housing market crash“.
Will there actually be a housing market crash in St Louis?
I guess first we should Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 5th, 2022 I saw dozens and dozens of headlines yesterday reporting that mortgage interest rates had fallen below 5% on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. The catch is on the day that was reported, yesterday, interest rates were actually above 5% on a 30-year fixed-rate loan. As our chart below shows, the MND Rate index was reporting 5.09% and, below that, Optimalblue was reporting 5.326%. Both of the aforementioned charts are updated daily and considered by many in the industry to have the most current and accurate information.
How could all the big headlines be wrong?
Well, actually the articles I scanned Continue Reading →
By Sandie Hea, on August 3rd, 2022 Maybe you’ve received an unsolicited offer recently to buy your home via email or postcard from Opendoor, a home buying firm. OpenDoor will make an offer on your house, bypassing the traditional method of selling your home via a REALTOR® using the MLS (which reaches 13,000+ REALTORS®) and entices you with catchy phrases on their website like “Get an instant offer and get paid” and “Skip showings and repairs”. It can sound good and SIMPLE but, according to the FTC complaint against OPENDOOR LABS, Inc. (Opendoor) and the agreement and consent order, “…consumers who sold to Opendoor have lost money Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 22nd, 2022 Interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage peaked at 6.28% a little over a month ago on June 14th, sending shockwaves through the St Louis housing market. After peaking however the rates have subsided, today dropping to 5.5%, the lowest rate since July 5th. This decline brings the mortgage rates down to the range they were I for most of May this year.
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Mortgage Interest Rates
(click on chart for live, interactive chart)
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 21st, 2022 The inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis core market area increased to a 1.04 month supply in June 2022, an increase of nearly 12 percent (11.8%) from a year ago when there was a 0.93 month supply. As our chart below illustrates, this is the first time since August 2019 there has been a year-over-year increase in inventory and then the increase was just 3.1%. While a double-digit increase is significant, we do need to keep in mind that, at just over a one-month supply of listings for sale is still crazy low! The median listing supply Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 15th, 2022 If you’re heard it once, you’ve likely heard it a hundred times, “all real estate is local”. This is why you can’t put too much faith in national news or data if you are interested in buying or selling a home in St Louis. This is also why at MORE, REALTORS®, we put so much time, effort and money into producing the best and most accurate local data we can. We think it’s important to bring the data and information down to the local level.
“Homebuyers are canceling deals at highest rate since start of COVID” was the headline earlier Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 12th, 2022 St Louis Real Estate Report for June 2022
(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)
By Dennis Norman, on July 6th, 2022 It’s no secret that the real estate market slows down in the winter and typically nearly screeches to a halt from shortly before Christmas to shortly after New Years. Therefore, when tracking showing activity in the St Louis area, the first week of January of each year is used as the base, or “0” value and then each rolling 7-day period afterward is compared to that first week.
As the chart below shows, in 2020 and 2021 all weekly averages of showing activity were above the baseline of January until getting close to Thanksgiving, with the one exception being late Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 23rd, 2022 After hitting the highest rate in over 13 years just two weeks ago at 6.28%, as the chart below shows, mortgage interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages declined today to 5.75%. The likelihood of interest staying under 6% is hard to to say at this time but I would say enjoy it while it lasts!
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Mortgage Interest Rates – 30 and 15-Year Conventional Loans, FHA Jumbo and and 5/1 ARM Loans Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2022 
After over 40 years in the real estate business in St Louis I’ve seen many times just how fast a good, or even great housing market can turn sour as well as the other way around. Two years ago, economic conditions relevant to the housing market included:
Interest rates in the 3’s Inflation rate under 2% The money supply increasing at a historically normal rate A steady and robust St Louis housing market
Today, the above conditions are:
Interest rates in the 6.25% – 6.5% range with the threat of increasing Inflation rate approaching 9% The money supply increasing nearly Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 14th, 2022 The bond market had one of the worst days in history yesterday resulting in mortgage interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage hitting 6.0% and above. This is the highest rates have been since November 20, 2008 when the mortgage interest rates were 6.04%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®.
Is there a silver-lining to the higher interest rates?
Given that the reason for the higher interest rates has to do with our high inflation rates and declining economic conditions, it’s hard to find much positive to say about what is happening. Having said that, the one Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 11th, 2022 Every month Fannie Mae surveys consumers to gauge their sentiment toward whether its a good time to buy or sell a home and publishes the result in their Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI). In the most recent HPSI report, 79% of the people surveyed said they felt now was a bad time to buy a home, which is the highest percentage of people feeling this way since the survey was begun in 2012. Seventeen percent of those surveyed felt it was a good time to buy a home and 4% didn’t know whether it was or not.
[xyz-ips Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 9th, 2022 There were 2.71 million home loan originations during the first quarter of this year in the U.S., according to the U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report from ATTOM. This is an 18% decline from the prior quarter, the largest quarterly decline since 2017 and marks the fourth straight quarterly decline in loan originations according to the report.
Refinancing saw a bigger decline than home purchases…
During the first quarter of this year there were 1,446,622 loans originated that were refinances of existing mortgages which is a decline of 21.7% from the prior quarter. There were 1,011,975 loans originated for home Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 7th, 2022 On May 12th the 30-year fixed rate mortgage interest rate hit 5.3%, the highest rates since June 2009, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. As the chart below illustrates, mortgage interest rate have declined the last three consecutive weeks falling to 5.09% at the end of last week, the lowest rate since April 14th when the average interest rate was 5.0%.
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Mortgage Interest Rates – 30 and 15-Year Conventional Loans and 5/1 ARM Loan
(click on chart for live, interactive chart)
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 27th, 2022 
On May 12th the 30-year fixed rate mortgage interest rate hit 5.3%, the highest rates since June 2009, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. As the chart below illustrates, mortgage interest rate have declined the last two consecutive weeks falling to 5.10% yesterday, the lowest rate since April 28th.
There are more affordable options…
The chart I selected to show below also shows the mortgage interest rates for 15-year mortgages as well as something almost no one has had a reason to talk about for several years, adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s). With mortgage interest rates as low as Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 9th, 2022 There have been a lot of reports over the past month about rising interest rates (mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 5.27% last week) as well as rising inflation rates (8.5% in March) and the effect these things will have on the housing market. It’s no doubt they will have some affect on home prices and sales and I have been watching the data on St Louis home prices and sales closely and so far there does not appear to be much impact.
St Louis home sales increase in April from March…
There are two ways we analyze Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 28th, 2022 In an article published yesterday, I referenced the Sitzer vs National Association of REALTORS law suit and said I would have a more in-depth discussion about that suit and here it is. The lawsuit was filed by Joshua Sitzer, Amy Winger, Scott and Rhonda Burnett and Ryan Hendrickson on June 21, 2019 against the National Association of REALTORS® and the parent companies of major real estate companies and franchises including Coldwell Banker, ReMax, Keller Williams and Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices.
The Sitzer lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri sought to be certified Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 27th, 2022 The past several days have not been good for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) from a legal perspective at least.
First, last Friday, April 22, 2022, Stephen R. Bough, a Federal Judge for in the Western District of Missouri, certified a lawsuit against NAR as a class action suit.The suit, known as the “Sitzer” suit as the original plaintiffs were Joshua Sitzer and Amy Winger, alleges that the defendant, the National Association of REALTORS® “created and implemented anticompetitive rules which require home sellers to pay commission to the broker representing the home buyer“. The plaintiffs in the suit also Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2022 The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) is the state agency that investigates complaints against insurance companies made by consumers in Missouri. Annually, the DCI releases its complaint report reporting on the complaints made in the preceding year by company, type of insurance, etc. In compiling the report the DCI assigns a “complaint index” to each company, based upon the number of complaints the department received for a consecutive three-year period relative to the amount of product-specific premium a Missouri licensed company experienced that same period. An index number of 100 means that the department received the normally expected Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2022 St Louis Real Estate Report for March 2022
(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)
By Dennis Norman, on April 14th, 2022 This week it was announced that the U.S. inflation rate in March had increased to a staggering 8.5% the highest rate in over 40 years as illustrated by the chart below. The last time the inflation rate was higher than this was in December 1981 when it hit 8.9%. The “inflation rate” that I’m referring to, and is the most commonly reported, is based upon the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U. S. city average. One of the categories included in the CPI-U is “shelter”. The report shows the shelter inflation rate at 5% which, on the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2022 Yesterday, I shared that, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), nearly three-fourths of consumers think now is not a good time to buy a home. However, the same survey that produced that data also showed that tw0-thirds of the consumers that responded said if they would buy a home vs rent if they were in fact going to move. As our chart below illustrates, for 3 of the last four months, 66% indicated they would buy. While the percentage that indicated they would buy was as high as 72% last May, it was in fact the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2022 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 publishes its 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 April 2022, HPSI consumers’ sentiment on whether now is a good time to buy a home hit an all-time low with just 24% of respondents saying now is a good time to buy a home. As Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2022 Some remodeling projects are done by homeowners that plan to stay in their homes for the foreseeable future and want to get the most enjoyment and functionality out of living there. These homeowners typically aren’t as concerned, if at all, with getting a monetary return on their investment as their return is the enjoyment of the improvements. However, other homeowners, particularly those that may only be in their homes a couple of years or so before their next move, tend to focus more on making sure the remodeling they do will bring them a return on their investment to make Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 18th, 2022 St Louis Real Estate Report for February 2022
(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)
By Stacker, on March 14th, 2022 The U.S. population between 2019 and 2020 grew at the lowest rate in 120 years—just .35%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But low population growth didn’t stop many people from moving, as western and southern states saw influxes in population while California and New York saw the biggest drops.Stacker compiled a list of states that are sending the most people to Missouri using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. States are ranked by the number of people that moved to Missouri from the state in 2019.
The 2019 National Movers Study found that the states with the most Continue Reading →
By John Donati, on February 24th, 2022 How ‘smart’ can a smart home be if its locks can’t tell you who is coming and going and when they came and went? In my opinion, that’s not a very ‘smart’ house. Nowadays, we use our phones for much more than talking to other people. To name a few, we use them for directions, email, and paying for groceries. So why wouldn’t we use them to remotely lock and unlock our doors too?
From my previous articles you might remember that one of the primary requirements in a smart home is either smart temperature control or a smart security Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 12th, 2022 Mortgage interest rates were at 3.69% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan as of this past Thursday, February 10, 2022., according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. As the chart below illustrates, mortgage interest rates hit a low of 2.77% in August of 2021 and have pretty much been trending upward since.
Within the last few days, there have been a lot of reports in the media projecting mortgage interest rates to go higher this year. A lot of it is based on the current inflation rates which are not good so if the economy and rate of inflation improve, Continue Reading →
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