By Dennis Norman, on May 3rd, 2021 There were a total of 7,863 residential building permits issued in the St Louis MSA during 2020 with 5,719 of this being for single-family homes both of which represent the highest number of building permits issued since 2007. As the table below shows, there were 110 building permits issued for 2-unit buildings, 57 permits for 3-4 unit buildings and nearly 2,000 (1,977) issued for buildings with 5 units or more last year.
We’re not even close to the early 2000’s though…
As the chart below does such a great job of illustrating, even though the number of residential building permits Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 26th, 2021 The St Louis luxury home market (homes priced at $700,000 or above) after remaining relatively flat for about a year has been steadily trending upward for now 10-months in a row. Even though April is not over, there have already been more sales of Luxury homes closed than for the month before, so April will make the 10th month of increased sales activity.
As the STL Market Chart below shows (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®), sales of luxury homes in St Louis City and County and St Charles County, have increased from 694 sales for the 12-month period ended April Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2021 Mortgage interest rates dropped below 3% this past week with an average interest rate of 2.97% on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage according to the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. As the chart below shows, mortgage interest rates have not been below 3% since February 25, 2021 when they also averaged 2.97%. Rates are still up from the record low rate of 2.65% in January, but as you can see on the chart, are still at a rate that is historically low!
Now is the time to buy or perhaps refinance your existing mortgage.
Anyone that has been thinking of Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2021 With the inventory of homes for sale remaining at historically low levels for the last couple of years home buyers may be wondering why there aren’t more new homes being built? Actually, in St Louis, new home construction has been increasing at a pretty good rate but it appears more homes can be absorbed by the market than are being built.
The answer to why more homes are not being built is probably the result of many things such as a lack of available ground in areas that are in demand, a shortage of contractors and tradesmen, the complication of, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 16th, 2021 LendingTree just released a list of the 50 large metro areas with the most competitive housing markets in the U.S. on which St Louis was ranked as the 6th most competitive market. This list was based upon LendingTree’s assessment of the quality of the buyer’s in each market, based upon their strength as a buyer from a financing standpoint.
So, while not an analysis of which cities have the most buyers showing up at a listing or where listings are receiving the highest number of offers, it’s about the quality of the home buyer’s from a competitive standpoint. This makes Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2021 There were 4,956 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended February 28, 2021 an increase of 11.0% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,465 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the forth month in a row, All seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits from the same period a year ago and with double-digit increases for four counties. Lincoln County saw the largest increase at Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2021 The inventory of homes for sale may be low, but that doesn’t appear to be slowing down the pace of home sales. As the STL Real Estate Trends Report below shows (which is exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) during the most recent week that data is available for, there were 1,151 new contracts written on listings in the St Louis MSA, an increase of 54% from the same period a year ago when there were 746 contracts written.
New listings are up as well during the same period. Again, referring to STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS® this Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2021 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) earlier this week proposed rule changes that would help prevent “avoidable foreclosures” that will come about when the current foreclosure ban expires June 30th. According to the CFPB, nearly 3 million homeowners are delinquent on their mortgages as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic issues that have come about as a result.
The CFPB’s proposed rule changes include:
Require a pre-foreclosure review period that would generally prohibit loan servicers from starting foreclosure until after December 31, 2021 on loans secured by a borrower’s principal residence. Permit loan servicers to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 31st, 2021 There are a total of seventeen counties that make up the St Louis MSA with 9 of them being on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River and the other 8 on the Illinois side. For some reason, I was curious today if the portion of the St Louis MSA in one state was outperforming the other or if they were performing about the same. I guess my expectation was probably the latter but the data showed that in fact, during the past three months, they were closed, but each state has its bragging rights depending on which data Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2021 As any home buyer in the market is well aware no doubt, we have a low inventory of homes for sale in the St Louis MSA. As the STL Market Report below shows (which is exclusivley available from MORE, REALTORS®) there is currently just a 1.2 month supply of active listings in the St Louis metro area. It doesn’t look like the situation is improving either as MORE’s Local Home Trends Reports at the bottom show that new contracts in the past two weeks have outpaced new listings during the same period. There were 2,105 new contracts written for the Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2021 For the 12-month period ended February 28, 2021, there were 29,402 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County core market. As the 15-year chart below (available exclusively from MORE, REALTORS®) shows, this is the highest 12-month sales period in more than 15 years! Going back to 2006, a historic banner year for real estate, we find that the 12-month period ended March 31, 2006, came in close at 28,797 homes sold, but that’s a little over 2% below our most recent 12-month period.
But, can St Louis home sales keep up this pace?
Having a record-setting period for home sales Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 17th, 2021 If you are in the process of trying to find a home to purchase or have gone through the process in the last couple of years, I don’t need to tell you how low the inventory of homes for sale is. Currently, in the St Louis 5-County core market, there is less than a one-month supply of homes for sale (0.85 months).
However, within that area, there are 21 zip codes that have a current supply of at least double that, 1.7 months or more. As the chart below shows, the supply of homes for sale in these zip codes Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2021 As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Jefferson County climbed to $200,413 in February from $192,000 the month before and sales plummeted from 220 in January to 81 in February.
In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $180,000 so the price of $200,413 last month represents an 11 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 217 so with just 81 homes sold last month, there was a 63% decline in sales for the month.
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Jefferson County Home Prices and Sales
(click on chart Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2021 As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in Franklin County remained at $196,000 in February the same as the month before. There were 82 homes sold in Franklin County in February, one more than the month before.
In February last year, the median price of homes sold was $155,000 so the price of $196,000 last month represents a 26 percent increase. The number of homes sold in February 2020 was 59 so the number of homes sold last month was 39% higher than a year ago.
[xyz-ips snippet=”Homes-For-Sale”]
Franklin County Home Prices and Sales
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2021 As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Charles County jumped to $275,000 last month approaching the record-high price of $279,000 set this past August. This is the second consecutive month the median price has increased and is contrary to the norm. Last year home prices fell to a low of $235,000 in February.
Though home prices didn’t follow the typical pattern and fall during the winter in St Charles County, home sales did. Home sales last month followed that pattern falling to 333 homes sold, similar to last year’s February sales of 320 homes.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2021 As the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis City and County jumped to $220,000 last month from $204,000 the month before. While home prices increased during the month, the number of homes sold fell slightly to 1,027 homes in the two-county area, down from 1,085 the month before.
As the table below the chart shows, there have been nearly 18,000 homes sold during the past 12 months in the City and County of St Louis at a median sold price of $220,580. The homes sold during the past 12 months sold for a median Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 9th, 2021 In spite of having been in a low-inventory market for the past few years, home sales in St Louis have continued strong. In fact, as the home sales trend chart below, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®, shows home sales trend for the 12-month period ending February 28th was at the highest level in over 10-years.
The chart includes the St Louis 5-County core market (the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Franklin, and Jefferson) and shows that for the 12-month period ending last month there were 28,571 homes sold (distressed home sales have been Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2021 As the list below shows, five of the ten zip codes in the St Louis MSA where homes that closed in the past 30 days sold the fastest are in St Louis County. However, the fastest-sold zip code was 63052 in Jefferson County and includes the cities Imperial, Kimmswick, Antonia, and Liguori.
[xyz-ips snippet=”Homes-For-Sale-and-Listings-With-Virtual-Tours”]
Ten Fastest-Selling Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA
(click on the list for a complete and current list)
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 5th, 2021 There were 4,864 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended January 31, 2021, an increase of 9.6% from a year ago when there were 4,438 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the second month in a row, Like last month, all seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits during the most recent 12-month period from the prior 12-month period. Lincoln County saw the largest increase at 52.7% followed by Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on March 4th, 2021 According to a report just released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), titled “Housing insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic“, there are over 2 million homeowners that have fallen behind at least three months on their mortgage payments. This represents a 250% increase from pre-Covid-19 levels and is now at a level we haven’t seen since the height of the Great Recession in 2010.
Homeowners with an FHA mortgage delinquency rates double rate for all loans:
As the chart below shows, homeowners with an FHA mortgage hit a serious mortgage delinquency rate of 10.8% during the 3rd quarter of 2020, Continue Reading →
By Jeremy Vlasich, on March 2nd, 2021 I have a lot of people ask me about what to invest in and how. Not every time, but often, the self-directed IRA investments can be great options for people that are in the real estate industry. For this post, I wanted to go over the basic concept and give some actual real-life examples. Once you read this, if you still need help or have questions, you are more than welcome to reach out. We are here to serve and help!
What is an IRA and what does a “self-directed” IRA mean? This is an Individual Retirement Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 22nd, 2021 As the list below shows, seven of the ten school districts in the St Louis MSA where homes are selling the fastest, are in outer-ring counties, with the remaining three districts being in St Louis County. This list is based upon the average time it took homes to sell that closed in the past 30 days and Wright City R-II District came in at the top of the list with an average of 14 days for homes to sell. St Charles County was home to the largest number of the fastest-selling school districts with 4 followed by St Louis County Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2021 The St Louis real estate market has started off 2021 strong, but is a change coming? Closings of home sales in January were strong with more sales closing than in January of last year, but with everything going and the uncertainty of the economy will it continue? I address both the current state of the St Louis real estate market, as well as discuss our “leading indicator” data which gives us a glimpse of where the market is headed in the St Louis Real Estate Market Update video you can access below. [xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video-Package”] [xyz-ips snippet=”Seller-Resources—Listing-Targeted”] Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 20th, 2021 One of the many benefits to living in St Louis is it’s a very affordable place to live and much easier to be a homeowner than in most other major metro areas. Having said that, we do have areas, such as Ladue, Huntleigh, and Clayton to name a few where we do see home prices that are out of reach for most of the folks living here. One such example is a magnificent 10,000+ square foot Ladue manse that sold earlier this month. At a final sales price of $6,150,000, it is the highest-priced home sale in the REALTOR® MLS Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2021 I would say for pretty much most of the 40-years I’ve been in the real estate business in St Louis, one-story homes have been popular. The trend shifted with new homes however as undeveloped ground became more scarce and demand for larger homes grew, which led to two-story homes gaining in popularity. There are of course other styles, such as 1.5 story homes, 2.5 or 3 story homes, and multi-level homes, but one and two-story are the most plentiful.
One-story homes outsell 2-story homes by nearly 3-1:
As the tables below show, in the St Louis MSA during the past Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 18th, 2021 The St Louis real estate market has slowed a little in February thus far. As the Local Market Trends reports (availably exclusively from MORE, REALTORS® ) show, new contracts written on listings as well as new listings in St Louis 5-County Core market, were down in each of the first two weeks of February both from the prior week as well as from the same period a year ago.
New contracts written (new sales):
As the reports below show, there were 590 new contracts written (new sales) on homes during the 2nd week of February which was 13% fewer contracts Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 17th, 2021 President Joe Biden on Tuesday extended the ban on home foreclosures for federally backed mortgages until June 30, 2021. This is the second extension of the ban which was originally set to expire January 31, 2021, but then previously extended by President Biden to March 31, 2021.
Meanwhile, as the chart below shows, serious delinquencies on home mortgages have been on the rise since nearly the beginning of the pandemic almost a year ago. The ban on foreclosures is certainly a welcome relief to those struggling to make their house payments. However, with such a high delinquency rate one has Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 15th, 2021 It’s no secret that listings of homes for sale in St Louis are in short supply and for a while now new sales have outpaced new listings making it a challenge for home buyers. However, over the past couple of months, new sales of homes in St Louis County have outpaced new listings by a greater margin than neighboring counties. As can be compiled from the tables below, new sales of homes in the St Louis 5-County Core market during the last four months outpaced new listings during the same period by 12.7%. For St Louis county, there were 6,095 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 13th, 2021 In December I wrote about multiple class-action lawsuits filed against the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), as well as some of the largest real estate brokerages, like ReMax and Keller Williams as well as a Department of Justice (DOJ) complaint filed again NAR over issues related to the lack of transparency in the home buying process.
The aforementioned complaints claim, among other things, that there has been an effort by the defendants to force buyers to pay an “inflated” price for a home as a result of the buyer not realizing the seller was forced to offer a commission to Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 6th, 2021 There were 4,816 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during 2020, an increase of 9.11% from 2019 when there were 4,414 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). For the second month in a row, All seven counties covered in the report saw an increase in building permits during 2020 from 2019 and with double-digit increases for four counties. Franklin County saw the largest increase at 19.40% followed by Lincoln County at 13.97%.
Search St Louis Homes For Sale Continue Reading →
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