Real Estate Market - St Louis Real Estate News

Foreclosure Rate in St. Louis Increases

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By Dennis Norman

Foreclosure rates in St. Louis increased for the month of August over the same period last year according to a report released today by First American CoreLogic. The report showed the St. Louis metro area to have a foreclosure rate of 1.24 percent in August, up just slightly from July’s rate of 1.20 percent, but up over 63 percent from a year ago when the rate was 0.76 percent.

As bad as the foreclosure rate for St. Louis sounds we are still doing better than the national rate of 2.86 percent for Continue Reading →

Homebuyer Tax Credit Best Tool for Sustaining Housing Recovery, Says NAR

By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The best available tool for sustaining the still-fragile housing market is the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit, (expires November 30) and it is essential that Congress extend the credit into 2010, the National Association of Realtors® testified at a hearing of the U.S. House Small Business Committee yesterday.

NAR Regional Vice President Joseph L. Canfora said “the credit is working,” pointing out that the 355,000 to 400,000 transactions directly attributable to the credit made a significant dent in the housing inventory and will help to stabilize home prices. Further, the credit has provided a Continue Reading →

MBA urges US House Small Business Committee to Extend and Expand Homebuyer Tax Credit

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today, testifying before The US House of Representatives Small Business Committee, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) told the committee that the current credit cycle and recession began in the U.S. housing market, and recovery will not be complete until the current oversupply of house on the market has dramatically decreased.

The MBA then cited the recent report by the IRS that over 1.4 million taxpayers have benefited from the tax credit. “Although (the) MBA is seeing some improvement in the housing market, it is essential that the favorable impact of the first-time homebuyer Continue Reading →

Mortgage interest rates on 30 year loan stay below 5 percent for third consecutive week

By Dennis Norman, on October 7th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending October 2, 2009. The report showed an increase of 16.4 percent in mortgage loan applications from the week before fueled by interest rates remaing below 5 percent.

Unfortunately interest rates seem to be doing more for existing homeowners and the mortgage industry than investors and the real estate market at refi’s for the week made up 66.3 percent of the mortgage loan application activity. Over the past four weeks shows homeowners refinancing existing loans is up 6.7 percent Continue Reading →

Missouri Association of REALTORS working to prevent double taxation

By Dennis Norman, on October 6th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to a report prepared by the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) in 2006, thirty-five states plus the District of Columbia impose a real estate transfer tax. What a transfer tax amounts to is when you sell or transfer a house (or other real property) you pay a tax to the state on the sale ranging from a low of 0.01 percent in Colorado to a high of 2.2 percent in the District of Columbia.

In addition, in some states (Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Hersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia) some of Continue Reading →

Homebuyer tax credit has been primary cause of recent return of buyers to market according to study

By Dennis Norman, on October 5th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Results have just been released of a study conducted by Rosen Consulting Group as to the effectiveness of the 2009 first-time-homebuyer tax credit and the potential need for an extension of the credits.

The Rosen Consulting Group was retained by Fix Housing First, a coalition that was originally working to convince Congress for a housing stimulus package that they feel would have a more significant then what was ultimately passed, and since has been working to get the tax credit extended beyond its current expiration date of November 30, 2009.

The study noted Continue Reading →

Dept of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program expanded to help people

By Dennis Norman, on October 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP)was established back in 1966 to give some monetary relief to eligible service members and federal employees who suffer financial loss on the sale of their primary residence when a base closure or realignment announcement cause a decline in the residential real estate market and they are not able to sell their homes under reasonable terms or conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP program to assist service members and Department of Defense employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, Continue Reading →

Time is running out to take advantage of Freddie Mac’s ‘SmartBuy’ Sales Promotion

By Dennis Norman, on October 1st, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Back in July I did a post about Freddie Macs “Smartbuy” sales promotion for owner-occupants buying Freddie Mac Homesteps(R) Homes. The special offer began July 17, 2009 and ends October 30, 2009 so there is less than a month to take advantage of it.

Under this promotion people buying a Freddie Mac home for their personal residence will receive at no cost:

A comprehensive two-year HomeProtect(R) Home Warranty Up to 3.5% payment by Freddie Mac towards buyers closing costs Homeprotect(R) Appliance discount (up to 30% savings on name brand appliances) Continue Reading →

Average home prices across US are about where they were six years ago

By Dennis Norman, on September 29th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices in July declined 12.8 percent from a year ago in their 10-city composite and 13.3 percent in their 20-city composite. On a positive note, all 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rates of decline when comparing July to June.

Continue Reading →

Home prices down 30 percent since peak in 2005 and trend is downward

By Dennis Norman, on September 28th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

I came across an interesting chart that I want to share. The chart below, courtesy of Chart of the Day, shows median home prices in the U.S. since 1970 (adjusted for inflation). As you can see from the chart, home prices trended upward from 1970 until peaking in the late 70’s (right around 1979 when I got into real estate, great timing on my part!) and then began dropping until the mid 80’s when prices began a rather rocky and unsteady climb upward.

As the chart illustrates, median home prices really started increasing, and Continue Reading →

Almost 1 in 5 prospective homebuyers say extending $8,000 tax credit to 2010 would be primary influence on their decision to buy

By Dennis Norman, on September 25th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

Nearly one in five (18 percent) prospective first-time homebuyers said extending the $8,000 tax credit would be the primary influence on their decision to buy a home before the end of 2010, according to a Zillow survey. That would equate to 334,000 buyers from Dec. 1, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2010 – a likely time period for an extension, according to additional analysis.

Zillow queried adults who qualify as a first-time homebuyer, asking them if an extension of the tax credit would influence their plans to buy a home before the end of 2010. If the Continue Reading →

Existing home sales in Midwest drop 6.6 percent from July to August; St Louis down 9 percent

By Dennis Norman, on September 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to the latest report released today from the National Association of REALTORS(R), existing home sales for August in the Midwest dropped 6.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.14 million units down from a level of 1.22 million units in July. The August home sales rate of 1.14 million happens to be exactly what it was this time last year for the Midwest which is not as well as the US is doing as a whole. As a whole, the rate of existing home sales in August was up 3.4 percent from Continue Reading →

Interest rates drop below 5 percent for 30 year fixed rate loan; applications increase

By Dennis Norman, on September 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending September 18, 2009. The report showed an increase of 12.8 percent in mortgage loan applications from the week before fueled by interest rates dropping below 5 percent for the first time since mid-May.

The bulk of the activity (63.8 percent of all applications) were homeowners refinancing their existing mortgages. Over the past four weeks shows homeowners refinancing existing loans is up 6.8 percent while borrowers financing the purchase of a home is only up 0.7 percent.

Interest rates Continue Reading →

US Home Prices show modest 0.3 percent increase from June to July according to Federal Housing Finance Agency

By Dennis Norman, on September 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Today the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported that U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis from June to July and are down 4.2 percent for the past year. Missouri is included by the FHFA in the West North Central division which was right on target with the US with an increase of 0.3 percent from June to July. Our region was only down 1.5 percent from last year according the report.

Many of the reports I’ve seen in the press on this are saying this is a sign of the Continue Reading →

Has the real estate market bottomed out? Is this the recovery? I don’t think so…

By Dennis Norman, on September 21st, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Doing what all normal people do at 4:30 am on a Monday, I was scouring the Internet reading real estate news when I ran across an interesting article by Richard Stoyeck titled “Is Real Estate Coming Back Now?”

I’ll cut through the chase and give you Stoyeck’s answer to the question posed in the title of his story; “It will be in our opinion several years before we can get back to a vibrant real estate market.” If you have been reading this blog for a while then you know I have concerns Continue Reading →

Interest rates drop for 3rd consecutive week; remain at 3-month low

By Dennis Norman, on September 18th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to Freddie Macs weekly mortgage market survey the interest rate on home mortgages dropped for the third-consecutive week and remains at a three-month low in the US.

St. Louis is included in Freddie Mac’s Southwest Region in which the survey shows the interest rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage for the week ending September 17, 2009, averaged 5.05 percent with 0.6 percent in fees and points.

The interest rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.54 percent with 0.5 percent in fees this week. The interest rate on a five-year ARM averaged Continue Reading →

New home construction in Midwest on the rise; Construction outpacing sales

By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2009

By: Dennis Norman

This morning the US Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for August 2009 showing a slight decrease in new home construction activity from July in the US, but an increase in new home construction activity here in the Midwest.

The report shows the following for the Midwest Region:

Continue Reading →

FDIC Launches Foreclosure Prevention Initiative

By Dennis Norman, on September 17th, 2009

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is launching an initiative to help consumers and the banking industry avoid unnecessary foreclosures and stop foreclosure “rescue” scams that promise false hope to consumers at risk of losing their homes.

This initiative includes outreach, referral services, and an information tool kit. Arming consumers with information will heighten consumers’ awareness of foreclosure “rescue” scams and give them more confidence in knowing they are working with legitimate counselors and servicers to obtain a loan modification that could help them avoid foreclosure.

Continue Reading →

Fed’s Loan Modification Program resulting in savings of $120 per month for borrowers

By Dennis Norman, on September 16th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to a study conducted by First American CoreLogicentitled “How the U.S. Consumer Has Benefited from Mortgage Finance Programs in 2009”, projections are there will be $2.3 billion in mortgages refinanced as a result of the Fed’s “Making Home Affordable” plan. According to the study, the median individual monthly savings was $120.

“ The quantitative easing policies of the Federal Reserve and refinance activity made possible by the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) have allowed more than 2 million consumers to reduce their monthly mortgage debt obligations and put more money in their pockets,” said Mark Fleming Continue Reading →

REALTORS Urge Congress to Extend Homebuyer Tax Credits

By Dennis Norman, on September 16th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS®is calling upon its 1.2 million members to urge Congress to extend the home-buyer tax credit into next year.

According to NAR the $8,000 first-time home-buyer tax credit has brought 1.2 million new buyers into the market – 350,000 of whom would not have purchased a home without the credit.

Continue Reading →

Deutsche Banks’ Weaver says housing market has not hit bottom yet

By Dennis Norman, on September 15th, 2009

Dennis Norman

Before the sub-prime mortgage implosion Karen Weaver warned of the coming crisis. Karen Weaver, the Global Head of Securitization Research for Deutsche Bank, said last month that she expected home prices to continue to drop through the 1st quarter of 2011. She also predicted that nearly half of the homeowners with mortgages would end up being underwater on their mortgages.

Yesterday Ms. Weaver said that in spite of the recent positive news on the housing market that she had not changed her position and is still predicting home prices to fall another 10 percent before finally reaching Continue Reading →

Foreclosures in St. Louis Increase 50 Percent in July from a Year Ago; Mortgage Delinquencies Follow Suit

By Dennis Norman, on September 10th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Anyone that follows any of my posts on various real estate blogs may well be getting tired of hearing me talk about foreclosure and mortgage delinquency rates. This is no doubt especially true when I am doing it in the context of trying to “chill” the excitement over recent “good” news on the housing market. However, there is good reason for this; these two issues are real problems, including right here in St. Louis, and they are not going away anytime soon.

This was evidenced in a report released today by First American Continue Reading →

Mortgage rates drop; Borrowers refinancing jumps over 22 percent for the week

By Dennis Norman, on September 9th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending September 4, 2009. The report showed an increase of 17.0 percent in borrowers applying for home mortgages to buy a home from the week before. This marks the largest gain in the index since early April, putting the index at the highest level since the first week of January.

There was a massive increase of over 22 percent from the week before for borrowers refinancing their existing home mortgage making . This the biggest jump in the increase Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Undervalued by almost 10 percent

By Dennis Norman, on September 8th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to a report issued by IHS Global Insight, house prices in the St. Louis area in the second quarter of 2009 are almost 10 percent below their estimated value.

IHS Global Insight, when determining statistically normal house values, considers not only house prices and interest rates, but household incomes, population densities, and any historical premiums or discounts metropolitan areas have exhibited over time.

Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market Facts and Figures for July 2009

By Dennis Norman, on September 2nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) and the St. Louis Association of REALTORS(R) have just released information on the St. Louis real estate market for July. Following are some highlights from the data which is for St Louis city and county.

Sales for July (existing homes-does not include new):

Single family homes – 1446 for the month 48 percent had 3 bedrooms Condos and Coops – 243 for the month 77 percent were 2 bedrooms or less Continue Reading →

US Pending Home sales increase in July; Midwest home sales decrease by 2 percent

By Dennis Norman, on September 1st, 2009

Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist, NAR

By: Dennis Norman

Today the National Association of REALTORS(R) issued their Pending Home Sales Index Report for July showing pending sales in the U.S. were up for the sixth consecutive month, the best streak since NAR began the pending home sale index in 2001.

Here in the Midwest pending home sales for July were not as strong showing a 2.0 percent drop from June, however still 8.1% above a year ago. The only other region that saw a decline in month to month pending home sales in July was the Northeast with a Continue Reading →

Beware The False Bottom In Housing

By Dennis Norman, on August 28th, 2009

Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds

By: Charles Hugh Smith:

In February 2007 I suggested a 4% mortgage delinquency rate could trigger a decline in the entire housing market. Since that proved prescient, we should revisit the analytic tool behind that call: the Pareto Principle.

There is a whiff of euphoria in the housing market, a heavily touted confidence that “the bottom is in.” It’s all roaring back–rising sales, multiple bids by anxious buyers, 3.5% down payments, low mortgage rates and the bonus of an $8,000 first-time home buyer credit (a gift from U.S. taxpayers). Continue Reading →

Mortgage interest rates increase slightly

By Dennis Norman, on August 27th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its weekly mortgage applications survey for the week ending August 21, 2009. The report showed an increase in borrowers applying for home mortgages of about 1 percent from the week before for borrowers buying homes and an increase of almost 13 percent from the week before for borrowers refinancing their existing home mortgage.

Interest rates inched up a little last week according to the survey.

The average interest rate for 30 year fixed rate mortgages increased to 5.24 percent from 5.15 percent with loan fees increasing Continue Reading →

New Home Sales in Midwest drop 7.6 percent in July; All other regions saw increase for July

By Dennis Norman, on August 26th, 2009

Dennis Norman

This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes here in the Midwest region in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 61,000 units, a 7.6 percent decrease from Junes annual rate of 66,000 units. The U.S. as a whole saw a 9.6 percent increase in new home sales in July over the month before with the Midwest beign the only region not to show an increase for the month.

New home sales in the Midwest for July 2009 lag 4.7 percent behind July 2008 new Continue Reading →

New Laws affecting real estate in Missouri

By Dennis Norman, on August 25th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The Missouri Legislature passed several bills this past session affecting real estate or property in Missouri, most of which were signed into law by Governor Nixon and go into effect August 28, 2009. Below is a brief synopsis of the new laws and their purpose based upon the bill summary. (Unless noted different the new law goes into effect August 28, 2009- For the complete bill click on the bill number): Continue Reading →