St Louis Real Estate NewsDaily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals. |
“Should I sell my home myself” is something that some sellers are asking today, particularly those in fast selling neighborhoods and areas where the inventory of homes for sale is low, after all, how hard can it be to sell a home if homes are in such high demand? Continue Reading →
Ok, this is the list that, if you are a seller, you don’t want to be on however, if you are a buyer looking for an opportunity, here are some places to consider buying a home where the competition from other buyers is not as fierce. As of today, there are 30 cities/municipalities in the St Louis area that are on our “Slowest Selling Neighborhoods List”, below are the top 10 on the list (click on the list to see the current entire list). At the top of the list is Byrnes Mill, one of 3 cities in Jefferson County that made the top 10 list, where homes for sale have been on the market an average of over 600 days. Somewhat surprising is the fact that St Charles county, which has been a pretty has 4 cities on the list. Continue Reading →
Mortgage interest rates have been falling since last Thursday when the referendum passed for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union. As the chart below shows, interest rates on a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage today averaged 3.44%, a new 52-week low and a decline of nearly 3/4 of 1 percent from a year ago when they were 4.20%. Continue Reading →
One of the many benefits to living in the St Louis area has long been the affordability of good homes in nice neighborhoods, but that has even gotten better in the past year in three of the 5 major counties that make up the St Louis market. As the table below shows, in Franklin County, due to lower home prices as well as interest rates, home affordability increased by 9 percent from May 2015 to May 2016. Continue Reading →
There have been 10,070 Homes sold in St Louis this year so far (through May 31, 2016), in the 5-county core St Louis market, an increase of 8.7 percent from the same time last year when there were 9,261 homes sold. As the table below shows, this years home sales is outpacing the prior 4 years thus far. The core St Louis market is comprised of the city of St Louis as well as the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin.
Pending home sales up as well but could show slowing trend…
At the chart below illustrates, Continue Reading →
Home sales continue at a brisk pace and the inventory of homes for sale remains low in all five counties that make up the core St Louis market with St Charles county having the lowest inventory with just a 1.9 month supply of homes for sale. Continue Reading →
Foreclosure activity in the St Louis metro area during the month May occurred at a rate of 1 foreclosure action for every 1,267 homes, an increase of 20.3 percent from the month before, but a decrease of 9.75% from a year ago, according to a report just released today by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
If you want to buy a home today you have to be quick, especially in some neighborhoods where the demand is so high and inventory so low that many of the homes sell within a day or two of hitting the market. There are many ways to determine what are the hot neighborhoods in St Louis, but for the purposes of this article, I’m going to look at the average days on market of active listings to determine which cities in the St Louis where homes are selling the fastest. Continue Reading →
This legislative session, the Missouri State Legislature passed HB. 1862, which modifies provisions relating to the existing landlord-tenant law in Missouri, specifically, it repeals sections 534.350, 534.360, 535.030, 535.110, 535.160 and 535.300 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri and replaces them with five new sections as described in the bill. Continue Reading →
There are a variety of down payment assistance providers in the St Louis area where a qualifying home buyer can obtain assistance with their downpayment to buy a home. According to a report just released today by RealtyTrac, the average amount of down payment assistance covers the typical down payment on a median priced home in 4 out of five of the St Louis Counties that make up the core market, with St Charles County being the only exception. As the table below shows, in St Charles County the average down payment assistance of $5,000 falls short of the typical downpayment on a median priced home of $6,150 but still covers most of it. In the other 4 counties the down payment is more than covered. Continue Reading →
Home flipping accounted for 8.1 percent of all the home sales in the St Louis MSA during the 1st quarter of this year according to a report released today by RealtyTrac. This is up 20 percent from the prior quarter however is a decline from the first quarter of 2015 when flipped homes accounted for 8.3% of all the homes sold. Continue Reading →
Homes are selling in St Louis at a brisk rate evidenced by the fact that pending home sales, those listings that are under contract to a buyer but not yet closed, for 2016 through the end of April increased 9.2% from the same time last year. As the chart below illustrates, year to date pending home sales in the St Louis 5-County core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) thus far this year are at a level higher than we have seen in years! Pending home sales in the month of April itself just barely outperformed April 2015 (be about 1/2 of 1%) but it did. Continue Reading →
The National Association of REALTORS®, Case-Shiller and a host of other organizations report home sales prices on a monthly basis (as do we) usually with comparisons of the current months’s pricing to the month before as well as the same month in the prior year. While this is a very good way of spotting trends as well as a leading indicator to show what the near term future may hold in store, this is not necessarily the best data to base the annual change of home prices on. Continue Reading →
There were 2,290 St Louis Existing Homes Sold in April (in the 5-county core market), an increase of 1.0 percent from April 2015 when there were 2,265 homes sold. The median home price of homes in the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin and Jefferson) during April 2016 was $173,850, an increase of 4.4 percent from April 2015 when the median price of existing homes sold was $166,500.
For the combined markets of the City of St Louis and the County of St Louis, there were 1,241 existing single Continue Reading →
The current home price trend is down in each of the 5 core counties this month, but home sales are still robust in most St Louis markets and the inventory of homes for sale remains low.
Want to know more? If so, then check out our just-released, 5-minute, video market update below which will go into more detail and give you a quick overview of St Louis home prices, where the sellers markets are, the buyers markets and much more! If you are considering buying or selling a home, or are an investor or just a homeowner wanting to keep Continue Reading →
Home mortgage loan originations in the St Louis metro area declined during the first quarter of this year to 5,843 total loan originations for purchase mortgages, a decline of 16 percent from the prior quarter when there were 6,976 purchase mortgage loan originations, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →
In mid-April the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced a new program aimed to help homeowners with a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan that are seriously underwater on equity, meaning that their mortgage balance is at least 115 percent of the current value of their home. This new principal reduction modification program offers, to those that qualify, a one-time reduction in the balance of their mortgage to bring them out of a negative equity position. Continue Reading →
The St Peters real estate market is the hottest sellers market in the St Louis area, based upon the months supply of homes for sale. As the table below shows, as of today, there are 69 active listings of homes for sale in St Peters and there were 68 homes sold which translates to a one month supply of homes for sale there today. Continue Reading →
During the 12 month period ended March 31, 2016, just over 1 of every 5 home sales in St Louis (21.46%) was a cash sale which is a decline of 9.2% from the prior 12-month period when nearly 1 in 4 home St Louis home sales (23.63%)was a cash sale. Continue Reading →
Yes, believe it or not, in spite of how fast some homes, in some price ranges and neighborhoods are selling, often the first day on the market, and in spite of how many St Louis markets are currently seller’s markets, giving seller’s the upper hand in negotiations, there are some buyer’s markets in St Louis, where the buyer actually has an advantage over sellers! To find these markets, there is no one statistic or piece of data that can identify it, but I use a couple to find those markets and will share what I feel are currently the best places in St Louis to be a home buyer today. Continue Reading →
It’s a beautiful spring Sunday morning in St Louis and many people will spend part of the afternoon touring open houses…some looking for their next home, some to see what homes in their neighborhood are selling for and some simply to kill time, satisfy curiosity or get some decorating ideas. Whatever your reason for seeking out St Louis open houses, the best source to find information on all the homes that are scheduled to have open houses today (with information from a database that is updated direct from the MLS!) is StLouisOpenHoues.com. Continue Reading →
Earlier this month, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance on the “Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transaction”. This guidance has caused concern among many landlords as many, in an effort to assure safe housing for their tenants, do criminal background checks on prospective tenants and have a policies against renting to applicants with a criminal background, a practice that, according to this guidance, may very well be considered to be discriminatory now. Continue Reading →
Today is earth day, so here are some interesting housing facts from the U.S. Census Bureau, related, more or less, to earth day issues: Continue Reading →
Three of the five St Louis area cities where homes are selling the fastest are in north St Louis County. As the table below shows, which ranks St Louis area cities by the average days current listings of homes for sale have been on the market, which is a good measure of how fast homes are selling, the city of Crestwood, with an average of 29 days on the market, is number 1 on the list. In 2nd, 3rd and 5th place respectively are the north St Louis county cities of Moline Acres, Dellwood and Black Jack. Continue Reading →
St Louis home prices appear to be trending downward a little even though we are in the midst of a fairly robust spring market. This is based upon the current price per foot of active listings for sale compared with what home sales that closed last month, as well as prior 12 months, sold for on a per-foot basis. As the tables below show, the price per foot trend is down in all 6 counties we track, with the biggest downward trends showing in St Louis County and the city of St Louis, both of which have seen the median price per foot of active listings fall below what homes in those counties sold for in the prior 12 months. Continue Reading →
There were 2,869 St Louis Existing Homes Sold in March, an increase of 8.6 percent from March 2015 when there were 2,640 homes sold. The median home price of homes in the St Louis 5-county core market during March 2016 was $155,500, an increase of 3.3 percent from March 2015 when the median price of existing homes sold was $150,000 Continue Reading →
New home construction in the midwest region of the U.S. continued strong in March with home builders beginning construction on new homes at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 123,000 home, a 41.4% increase from March 2015 when the new home start rate was 87,000 homes. March’s rate was a decline of 21.2 from February when an increase of nearly 90 percent from the year before sent the annual rate to 153,000 homes. Continue Reading →
It’s hard to drive through a neighborhood today and not see a “coming soon” rider on a for sale sign in front of a house. With the St Louis real estate market still favoring sellers in many markets due to a low supply of homes for sale, it’s not surprising that coming soon listings create somewhat of a fervor among would-be buyers and their agents. Continue Reading →
The number of months of supply of homes for sale in St Louis has increased in each of the 5 core counties, since last month, but the St Louis real estate market is still going strong!
Want to know more? If so, then check out our just-released, 5-minute, video market update below which will go into more detail and give you a quick overview of St Louis home prices, where the sellers markets are, the buyers markets and much more! If you are considering buying or selling a home, or are an investor or just a homeowner wanting to keep up Continue Reading →
St Louis foreclosure activity during the first quarter of this year in the St Louis metro area was at a rate of 1 of every 469 homes, ranking St Louis 99th, in terms of foreclosure rate (a list that is good to be low on), of metropolitan areas in the U.S. with a population in excess of 200,000 people, according to a report just released by RealtyTrac. Continue Reading →