Real Estate Market - St Louis Real Estate News

Mortgage information and advice from a St. Louis Mortgage Banker – Part 1 of a series

By Dennis Norman, on July 28th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

It seems home mortgages are in the news daily lately: record-low interest rates, record-high foreclosure rates, the sub-prime mortgage mess, lack of jumbo loans and so on. It’s confusing at best and causing much concern for many people wishing to buy a home or refinance their existing home mortgage.

H. John Frank, Jr., President Paramount Mortgage Co.

To find out just what is going on in the home mortgage world today I turned to someone I have known for over 20 years that is a highly respected St. Louis mortgage banker, Continue Reading →

New home sales in Midwest increase a whopping 43.1% in June

By Dennis Norman, on July 27th, 2009

Dennis Norman

This morning the U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing the sale of New Homes in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, an 11% increase across the US from May.

However, here in the Midwest the numbers were significantly better showing a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 73,000 new homes sales in June, a 43.1% increase over Mays rate of 51,000 homes. In addition, the Midwest was the only of region of the four in the U.S. that showed an increase in sales from the year prior. In the Midwest, June’s Continue Reading →

Interest rates increase slightly this week

By Dennis Norman, on July 24th, 2009

Dennis Norman

According to Freddie Macs weekly mortgage market survey mortgage rates increased slightly this week from the prior week. The survey shows 30 year fixed rate mortgages averaging 5.20% with 0.7% in fees and points, up from 5.14% the week before. Last year at this time, the 30 year rate averaged 6.63%.

Rates on 15 year fixed-rate mortgages increased slightly as well, up to 4.68% from 4.63% the week before, 5/1 ARM’s held about the same at 4.74% and 1 year ARM’s as well as 4.76%. This time last year these arms were 6.18% and 5.49% respectively.

Continue Reading →

Home sales and prices increase in Midwest in June

By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

The National Association of REALTORS(R) released its existing home sales report for June showing an increase in sales for the 3rd month in a row as well as higher prices in June.

Existing home sales, including single-family, town-homes, condominiums and co-ops increased 3.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. This rate is almost identical to last years sales at the same time which is a first in a quite a while. May’s rate was down 3.6% from a year ago and June is down just 0.2% from a Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Final Post

By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

For the past two days I have written about my E-View with Karen Vennard, the 2009 President of the St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the real estate market in St. Charles County.

Today will be the final post in this series in which Karen has been shared her insights with us on the real estate market in St. Charles County. Now we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday:

Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS

Dennis – We hear a Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part two

By Dennis Norman, on July 22nd, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Yesterday I began my E-View with Karen Vennard, the 2009 President of the St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) to get her take on the real estate market in St. Charles County.

Karen’s extensive knowledge of the market was apparent in her informative answers in yesterdays E-View. Now we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday:

Karen Vennard, 2009 President, St. Charles County Association of REALTORS

Dennis – Where do you see the real estate market in St. Charles County at now?

Karen – I see the market recovering; there has Continue Reading →

St. Charles County Association of REALTORS(R) Presidents’ view of the market – Part 1

By Dennis Norman, on July 21st, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

According to the website for the Economic Development Center for St. Charles County, the county was established October 1, 1812. St. Charles County encompasses 561-square-miles of diverse landscape spreading out westward from the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

According to the Census Bureau, in 1970 the population of St. Charles county was 92,954. By 2008 the population had grown to 349,307, an increase of over 275% in that 38 year period. During the same period St. Louis County had a modest increase in population of just over 4% growing from 951,671 Continue Reading →

Report shows St. Louis metro prices to decrease by 2% in next 12 months

By Dennis Norman, on July 20th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

A report published by Local Market Monitor, Inc. predicts the St. Louis metro area will see real estate values decline 2% in the coming 12 months. This projection does not sound bad and would support the possibility that the market is leveling off and perhaps we have seen the bottom.

Local Market Monitor Graph – St. Louis Metro Area, Home Values Forecast vs. Actual

The report also states that in the St. Louis metro market jobs have fallen by 2.5% in the past year, compared with a drop of 4% nationwide. Continue Reading →

30 year mortgage rates this week at 5.14%; lowest since May

By Dennis Norman, on July 18th, 2009

Dennis Norman

By: Dennis Norman

Freddie Macs weekly mortgage market survey mortgage rates dropped this past week, making it the third week in a row rates came down.

The survey shows 30 year fixed rate mortgages averaging 5.14% with 0.7% in fees and points, down from 5.20% the week before. This is the lowest rate reported in Freddie Mac’s survey for a 30 year fixed rate loan since May. Rates on 15 year fixed-rate mortgages dropped very slightly as well, down to 4.63% from 4.69% the week before, 5/1 ARM’s held about the same at 4.83% and Continue Reading →