St. Louis New Homes - St Louis Real Estate News

St Louis Housing Market Recovery Underway

By Dennis Norman, on January 2nd, 2014

It’s hard to believe that it has been over 5 years since the housing market bubble burst but, as we begin this new year, it is good to continue to see market data that supports a St Louis housing market recovery is underway!

As we have been reporting here on St Louis Real Estate News, over the past few months we have seen a solid recovery trend in the St Louis real estate market. Home prices have increased as have home sales, the new home market continues to make progress with new home construction and sales on the rise and Continue Reading →

Midwest New Home Sales Plummet In November

By Dennis Norman, on December 26th, 2013

After a 34 percent increase in October from the month before, Midwest new home sales gave back a chunk of the gain in November, falling 26.6 percent from October. New home sales in the midwest region of the U.S. in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 47,000 homes, down from a rate of 64,000 homes the month before however up slightly from a year ago in November when the rate of new home sales was 44,000 homes.

Looking at actual home sales and not “seasonally adjusted annual rates” we find that, through the end of November 2013, Continue Reading →

St Louis Area New Home Construction Up 25 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on December 19th, 2013

St Louis area new home construction activity continues to gain momentun with building permits issued for new homes for the period ended November 30, 2013 increasing 25% from the same period the year before. As the table below shows, all St Louis area counties saw increases in building permits for the period.

Nationally, there were 577,000 permits for new single family homes issued for 2013 through November 30th, an increase of almost 21% from a year ago when the year to date total was 477,700 permits.

See St Louis Area New Homes For Sale – Click HERE

(We Continue Reading →

St Charles County Most Expensive Homes For Sale

By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2013

In the thirty year period from 1980 to 2010 the number of housing units in St Charles county tripled from 49,523 units to 141,016 units. St Charles’ growth has been fueled in part by an abundance of affordable new homes but that doesn’t mean St Charles county doesn’t have it’s share of luxury homes though! According to the latest housing data from the US Census Bureau, about 3 percent of the housing units in St Charles, or about 3,300 units, are valued at $500,000 or above.

Below is a slide show revealing St Charles County Most Continue Reading →

Midwest New Home Sales In October Up Over 20 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on December 4th, 2013

Midwest new home sales in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 63,000 homes, a 34.0 percent increase from September and an increase of 21.2 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. Nationally, new home sales in October were at an annual rate of 444,000 homes, an increase of 25.4 percent from the month before and an increase of 21.6 percent from a year ago.

New homes sold during the month of October 2013 were sold for a median price of $245,800, a decrease of 4.5 percent from Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Building Activity Up Almost A Third From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on October 25th, 2013

St Louis home building activity is on the rise throughout the St Louis area, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri. Building permits issued through September 2013 for new homes in the five counties that make up the bulk of our new home market have increased from the same time period last year. Overall, as the table below shows, building permits have increased 29% for the five counties, with the city of St Louis seeing the largest increase at 100%. The lions share of new home construction continues to take place Continue Reading →

How long does it take to build a new home in St Louis?

By Dennis Norman, on October 22nd, 2013

Would you like to buy a new home in St Louis but not sure if you have the time to wait for one to be built? Before the market crash there were plenty of “spec” homes (homes builder’s built on speculation, trusting a buyer would buy it after completed) for buyers to choose from but today there are not near as many being built (“build it and they will come” didn’t pan out so well for builders when the market crashed).

Nationally, according to 2012 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, it takes about 6 months on average to build Continue Reading →

New Home Sales in the Midwest Increase At Higher Pace than National Level

By Dennis Norman, on September 25th, 2013

New home sales in the midwest in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 61,000 homes, a 19.6 percent increase from July and an increase of 15.1 percent from a year ago, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. On a national level, new home sales in August were at the annual rate of 421,000 homes, a 7.9 percent increase from the month before and a 12.6 percent increase from a year ago.

New homes sold during the month of August 2013 were sold for a median price of $254,600, a slight decrease Continue Reading →

St Louis new home construction slips in August still up from a year ago

By Dennis Norman, on September 23rd, 2013

St Louis new home construction activity decreased in August 2013 with 311 building permits for new homes being issued in the St Louis metro area (the area served by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri) a 9.9 percent decrease from the month before and is an increase of 8.7 percent from August 2012 when there were 286 building permits issued for new homes, according to data published by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri.

St Louis home building is making some headway toward recovery by climbing out of the tough it hit Continue Reading →

St Louis New Home Building Activity In June Up Over 60 Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on August 14th, 2013

St Louis new home construction activity increased in June 2013 with 424 building permits for new homes being issued in the St Louis metro area (the area served by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri) an increase of 26.2 percent from the month before and is an increase of 63.7 percent from June 2012 when there were just 259 building permits issued for new homes, according to data published by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri.

While this is good news for the building industry, as the chart below Continue Reading →

What type of home buyers visit an open house?

By Dennis Norman, on August 4th, 2013

It’s Sunday and that means that many potential home buyers will spend time this afternoon visiting an open house, as will nosey neighbors, people looking for decorating ideas and people with time on their hands looking for something to do. So, what type of home buyers visit an open house? Below are the results of a survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS addressing this question: Looking for Open Houses? There are over 700 homes open today…Visit StLouisOpenHouses.com for a complete list or click here The “typical” home buyer that visits an open house is: Continue Reading →

Move-up Buyers Optimistic About The Housing Market & Almost Half Planning to Buy a New Home

By Dennis Norman, on August 2nd, 2013

Homeowners are feeling pretty optimistic about the housing market and in fact, in a survey conducted by Pulte Homes, almost half (43%) of the move-up buyers indicated they are planning on buying a new home within the next five years. Over three in four (76%) of move-up buyers feel they can sell their current home within years at a price that would permit them to buy a new home.

According to the survey, the need to downsize is a common reason why homeowners decide to purchase a new home. Other reasons given for deciding to buy a new home Continue Reading →

The Mortgage Interest Deduction…Truth vs Fiction

By Dennis Norman, on July 26th, 2013

The truth on the Mortgage Interest Deduction

Currently, lawmakers in Washington D.C., while looking for ways to “close loopholes” and cut spending, are looking hard at something once considered “untouchable”, the mortgage interest deduction (MID). While there is probably little chance of totally eliminating the ability for homeowners to deduct the mortgage interest they paid on their homes, there is a possibility the deduction could be altered significantly or capped, and, perhaps, even phased out over time.

Like most current events, there are stories out there with varying degrees of accuracy about the benefit of the mortgage interest deduction Continue Reading →

New home sales soar in June

By Dennis Norman, on July 24th, 2013

New home sales soared in June to an annual rate of 497,000 homes, the highest level in 5 years, according to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. New homes were sold in June at a rate that is 8.3 percent higher than the month before and 38.1 percent higher than June 2012 when new homes were sold at the rate of 360,000 homes a year.

New homes sold in the month of June 2013 were sold for a median price of $249,700, a decrease of 5 percent from the month before and an increase of 7.3 Continue Reading →

New Home Construction In Midwest Out Performs Rest Of U.S. In June

By Dennis Norman, on July 17th, 2013

New home construction here in the midwest in June out performed the rest of the country, according to a report released today from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the report, new home construction in the midwest in June commenced on homes at an annual rate of 93,000 homes, an increase of 2.2 percent from the month before and an increase of 24.1 percent from a year ago. On a national level, new home construction in June increased only 0.6 percent from the month before and was up 24.6 percent from the year before, the annual increase largely Continue Reading →

St Louis New Home Construction Up Almost 30 Percent In Past Year

By Dennis Norman, on July 11th, 2013

St Louis new home construction activity cooled slightly in May 2013 with 336 building permits for new homes being issued in the St Louis metro area (the area served by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri) a decline of 3.4 percent from the month before however this is an increase of 13.5 percent from May 2012 when there were just 296 building permits issued for new homes, according to data published by the Home Builders Association of St Louis and Eastern Missouri.

If we expand our focus from just the month of May Continue Reading →

Home Builders’ Market View Best In Over Six Years

By Dennis Norman, on June 20th, 2013

Home builders’ market view is more optimistic today than it has been in over 6 years, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). The index, which compares how many home builders have an optimistic outlook on the market with those with a negative outlook to arrive at an index number. An index about 50 indicates more builders are optimistic about the market than negative on the market.

The chart below shows the history of the index.

Looking for a new home in St Louis? Click here to see all for sale

Continue Reading →

Home Building Continues At Pace 25 Percent Higher Than Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on May 16th, 2013

Home building continues at a pace higher than we have seen in a few years, according to the latest new construction report from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD. According to the report, permits were issued in April for new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 617,000 homes, the highest rate in over 2 years and an increase of 27.5 percent from last year. New home starts in April were at an annual rate of 610,000 homes, a slight decline from March, but a 20.8 percent gain from a year ago and the 5th straight month the rate Continue Reading →

Survey Shows One-Third Of Homebuyers Lack Info Needed To Get Mortgage

By Tyler Frank NMLS # 942420, on May 13th, 2013

One-third of Homebuyers Surveyed Are Ill-prepared to Get a Mortgage

Tyler Frank,Paramount MortgageNMLS ID 942420

According to a survey recently conducted by Zillow, many homebuyers are really not armed with the information they should have before attempting to obtain a mortgage. For example, over one-third (34 percent) of the prospective homebuyers surveyed did not know that a qualified borrower can obtain a home loan today with less than a five percent downpayment.

In addition, many homebuyers have misinformation that can prevent them from obtaining the best possible mortgage interest rate. For example, 26 percent of the homebuyers said Continue Reading →

New Home Sales On The Rise While Inventory is Low

By Dennis Norman, on April 23rd, 2013

New home sales continued the upward trend in March with new homes in the US selling at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 417,000 homes, an increase of 1.5 percent from the month before and an 18.5 percent increase from a year ago, according to the US Census Bureau and HUD.

New home sale prices declined in March to a median price of $247,000, down 6.7 percent from February’s median new home price of $264,900 but up 3 percent from a year ago when the median new home sales price was $239,800. The inventory of new homes for sale remained steady Continue Reading →

St Louis New Home Construction – Current Permit Activity

By Dennis Norman, on April 2nd, 2013

St Louis new home construction has suffered like pretty much the rest of the country has over the past 5 years or so as a result of the real estate bubble burst. The news lately has been better as we have seen new home construction in St Louis increase, in some areas significantly, but, as I often remind readers, it is all relative. The increases we are seeing now are increases from historically low numbers in the recent past and have a long way to go to get back to a “normal” level. The chart below (which is “live” and Continue Reading →

Inventory of Homes For Sale In St Louis Down Over 8 Percent

By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2013

Barely over 3 month supply of homes for sale in St Louis

Home sales in the U.S. fell slightly in February from the month before, according to the National Association of REALTORS’ pending home sales index. The index slid to 104.8* in February from 105.2 in January however was still 8.4 percent higher than a year ago and at the second highest level in nearly three-year. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, said “limited inventory is holding back the market in many areas” and that “only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage…”

As the Continue Reading →

New Home Sales In Midwest Increase In February

By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2013

New Home Sales In Midwest Outperform The National Market!

New home sales in the Midwest were at an adjusted annual rate of 58,000 homes in February, an increase of 13.7 percent from January’s rate of 51,000 homes, according to data released this morning by the Census Bureau. The Midwest was the only region in February with an increase in new home sales from January and the Midwest and West region were the only two regions with an increase in new home sales from a year ago.

New home sale prices rose in February to $246,800 from $239,600 the month before, Continue Reading →

St. Louis New Home Construction Up Over Fifty Percent From Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2013

St. Louis New Home Construction Heating Up!

St. Louis new home construction activity continues to increase and is off to a good start for the year. There were 240 new home building permits issued in February in the St. Louis area*, just slightly ahead of January’s 239 permits. Year to date permits issued for 2013 is up 53 percent from the same time last year, according to the latest permit data available from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis and Eastern Missouri. For complete permit data click the link below:

St. Louis New Home Construction Permit Data February Continue Reading →

First time home buyers bought almost half the homes sold last year

By Dennis Norman, on March 15th, 2013

Of the 6.8 million homes sold during the past two years, almost half of them (46 percent) were sold to first-time home buyers according the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). This is up significantly from 2005 and 2007 when only 35 percent of the homes sold were bought by first-time buyers and is even higher than in 2009, the middle of the home buyer tax credit period, when first time buyers made up 41 percent of the market. Continue Reading →

Kiplinger Predicts Home Sales To Hit 5 Million Mark in 2013

By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2013

Existing home sales are expected to hit the 5 million mark in 2013, according to Kiplinger’s Economic Outlook published yesterday. Kiplinger is predicting a 7.5 percent increase in existing home sales in 2013 over last years 4.65 million home sales. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Borrowers in a Rush for Low Mortgage Interest Rates and Fees

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2013

Nationwide 30-year fixed mortgage rates have climbed to their highest level of the last five weeks according to last week’s rate survey conducted by Bankrate.com. Continue Reading →

New Home Sales Start Off 2013 Up Almost 30 Percent From a Year Ago

By Dennis Norman, on February 26th, 2013

New home sales in January were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 437,000 homes, an increase of 15.6 percent from the month before and an increase of 28.9 percent from a year ago, according to the new home sales report for January 2013 just released by the Commerce Department. The median price of new homes sold in January 2013 was $226,400 and the inventory of new homes for sale at the end of the month worked out to a 4.1 month supply. Continue Reading →

Coming soon to a town near you…..a housing shortage?

By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2013

First off, no I have not lost my mind, I can actually support the idea that there may be somewhat of a housing shortage soon but, as the headline implies, I don’t necessarily think it’s going to happen in St. Louis, unfortunately. However, its’ a distinct possibility in many markets throughout the U.S. particularly those with population growth and an increasing supply of jobs. Continue Reading →

New home permits up 47 percent in St Charles County and 25 percent in St Louis County in 2012; It’s all relative though…

By Dennis Norman, on February 12th, 2013

It’s funny what you can do with stats….without any dishonesty (well, maybe a little deception) you can use statistics to paint just about any picture (or create any headline) you want. For example, we all know the new home market in St Louis, like the rest of the country, has suffered tremendously since 2006 (perhaps I know this better than many) and it is improving but sometimes the media I think paints a picture that does not always convey the big picture. For example, lets look at the following statements about building permit data for new homes in St Louis, all of which are based upon the same data from the HBA and all of which are true statements: Continue Reading →