St Louis Real Estate News - Page 31 of 111 - Daily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals.

Mortgage Rates Fall Slightly to Lowest Level In Two Weeks

By Dennis Norman, on June 23rd, 2022

After hitting the highest rate in over 13 years just two weeks ago at 6.28%, as the chart below shows, mortgage interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages declined today to 5.75%. The likelihood of interest staying under 6% is hard to to say at this time but I would say enjoy it while it lasts!

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Mortgage Interest Rates – 30 and 15-Year Conventional Loans, FHA Jumbo and and 5/1 ARM Loans Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Continue Reading →

Over One-Fourth of St Louis Homes For Sale Have Reduced Asking Prices

By Dennis Norman, on June 17th, 2022

Price reduction, what’s that? All we seem to have heard about the last couple of years with regard to home prices is how much OVER the list price buyers were having to pay in order to buy a home. So, to be talking about price reductions today seems odd. However, as the infographic below illustrates, there have been listings with price reductions over the past couple of years, it’s just the current level of them is higher than we have seen in a while.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Continue Reading →

New Listings To New Contracts Ratio Increases This Month

By Dennis Norman, on June 16th, 2022

For the first three weeks of June there were 1,475 new listings of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-county core market, according to the STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS®. During the same period, there were 1,194 new contracts written on homes for sale resulting in a new listing to new contract ratio of 1.25. This ratio of listings to new sales is higher than it was 3 weeks ago when I shared the last update from the STL Real Estate Trends report and it was 1.05 at that time for the period reported which was Continue Reading →

Will Home Prices Come Crashing Down?

By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2022

After over 40 years in the real estate business in St Louis I’ve seen many times just how fast a good, or even great housing market can turn sour as well as the other way around. Two years ago, economic conditions relevant to the housing market included:

Interest rates in the 3’s Inflation rate under 2% The money supply increasing at a historically normal rate A steady and robust St Louis housing market

Today, the above conditions are:

Interest rates in the 6.25% – 6.5% range with the threat of increasing Inflation rate approaching 9% The money supply increasing nearly Continue Reading →

Mortgage Rates Hit Highest Level In Over 13 Years

By Dennis Norman, on June 14th, 2022

The bond market had one of the worst days in history yesterday resulting in mortgage interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage hitting 6.0% and above. This is the highest rates have been since November 20, 2008 when the mortgage interest rates were 6.04%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®.

Is there a silver-lining to the higher interest rates?

Given that the reason for the higher interest rates has to do with our high inflation rates and declining economic conditions, it’s hard to find much positive to say about what is happening. Having said that, the one Continue Reading →

St Louis YTD Home Sales Down Nearly Nine Percent From Last Year

By Dennis Norman, on June 12th, 2022

There have been 9,645 homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market during the first 5-months of this year which, as the STL Market Chart below illustrates, is a decline of 8.8% from the same time last year when there were 10,579 homes sold.

2022 home sales outpacing 2020…

While this years St Louis home sales are lagging behind last years, as the chart below also shows, 2022 YTD home sales is 2.8% higher than in 2020 when there were 9,382 YTD home sales.

$1 Million+ home sales going strong…

The bottom chart shows there have been 189 one-million Continue Reading →

Consumer Sentiment Toward Now Being A Good Time To Buy Hits Record Low

By Dennis Norman, on June 11th, 2022

Every month Fannie Mae surveys consumers to gauge their sentiment toward whether its a good time to buy or sell a home and publishes the result in their Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI). In the most recent HPSI report, 79% of the people surveyed said they felt now was a bad time to buy a home, which is the highest percentage of people feeling this way since the survey was begun in 2012. Seventeen percent of those surveyed felt it was a good time to buy a home and 4% didn’t know whether it was or not.

[xyz-ips Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Values Declined In Past 12-Months After Inflation

By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2022

With the bidding wars we’ve seen on listings resulting in sold prices that exceed the asking price in St Louis over the past couple of years, it’s hard to imagine that home values could be lower today than a year ago. Now, before you call me crazy, I’m not saying that St Louis homes are SELLING for LESS now than a year ago. As our STL Market Chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in the St Louis 5-county core market was $254,950 in May 2021 and $270,000 last month, for an increase in sales price of 5.9%. Continue Reading →

New Home Building Permits In St Louis For Most Recent 12-Months Decline Nearly 10 Percent

By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2022

There were 5,138 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended April 30, 2022, a decrease of 9.69% from the same period a year ago when there were 5,138 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). Four of the seven counties covered in the report saw a double-digit decrease in building permits from the same period a year ago.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis New Homes For Sale St Louis New Home Continue Reading →

Inventory of New Homes In The U.S. Hits Highest level since 2010

By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2022

Given the low-inventory of homes for sale that has existed for some time now, it may be hard to believe my next statement, but the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and HUD show that there is currently a 9-month supply of newly constructed homes in the U.S. As the chart below illustrates, this is the highest level the supply of new homes in the U.S. has reached since May 2010 when there was a 9.3 month supply.

The months supply of depicted below is calculated as the ratio of new homes for sale to the number of new Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Saw Second-Largest Decrease In Home Loan Originations Of Metro Areas In The U.S.

By Dennis Norman, on June 9th, 2022

There were 2.71 million home loan originations during the first quarter of this year in the U.S., according to the U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report from ATTOM. This is an 18% decline from the prior quarter, the largest quarterly decline since 2017 and marks the fourth straight quarterly decline in loan originations according to the report.

Refinancing saw a bigger decline than home purchases…

During the first quarter of this year there were 1,446,622 loans originated that were refinances of existing mortgages which is a decline of 21.7% from the prior quarter. There were 1,011,975 loans originated for home Continue Reading →

Mortgage Interest Rates Fall For Third Consecutive Week (albeit slightly)

By Dennis Norman, on June 7th, 2022

On May 12th the 30-year fixed rate mortgage interest rate hit 5.3%, the highest rates since June 2009, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. As the chart below illustrates, mortgage interest rate have declined the last three consecutive weeks falling to 5.09% at the end of last week, the lowest rate since April 14th when the average interest rate was 5.0%.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Mortgage Interest Rates – 30 and 15-Year Conventional Loans and 5/1 ARM Loan

(click on chart for live, interactive chart)

Continue Reading →

Mortgage Interest Rates Fall For Two Consecutive Weeks

By Dennis Norman, on May 27th, 2022

On May 12th the 30-year fixed rate mortgage interest rate hit 5.3%, the highest rates since June 2009, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey®. As the chart below illustrates, mortgage interest rate have declined the last two consecutive weeks falling to 5.10% yesterday, the lowest rate since April 28th.

There are more affordable options…

The chart I selected to show below also shows the mortgage interest rates for 15-year mortgages as well as something almost no one has had a reason to talk about for several years, adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s). With mortgage interest rates as low as Continue Reading →

Pending Home Sales Increase In Midwest Region In April…down in all other regions

By Dennis Norman, on May 26th, 2022

The pending home sales index from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) was released showing the midwest region as the only region that had an increase from March to April. According to the NAR report below, the pending home sales index for the midwest increased 6.6% from March to April while declining 3.9% for the nation as a whole. As the table below shows, all while all four regions in the U.S. saw a decline in the pending home sales index from a year ago, the midwest fared the best again showing only a 2.8% decline while the other regions Continue Reading →

St Louis New Listings to New Contracts Trend Remains Steady

By Dennis Norman, on May 26th, 2022

For the first three weeks of May there were 2,115 new listings of homes for sale in the St Louis 5-county core market, according to the STL Real Estate Trends Report from MORE, REALTORS®. During the same period, there were 2,019 new contracts written on homes for sale resulting in a new listing to new contract ratio of 1.05. This is pretty consistent with the recent trend with new listings slightly outpacing new sales. As the tables at the bottom show, for April there were 3,470 new listings and 3,269 new contracts written for a new listing to new contract Continue Reading →

Home Builders Losing Confidence In The Housing Market

By Dennis Norman, on May 18th, 2022

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in conjunction with Wells Fargo publishes their House Market Index (HMI) monthly which reveals the sentiment of home builders about the market. In the report released yesterday, the HMI fell 8 points to 69, marking the fifth month in a row that builder sentiment as declined and becoming the lowest level for builder sentiment since June 2020.

It may not be all that bad though…

As it true with most data, it’s all relative. With this in mind, this may be the 5th straight month that builder sentiment has fallen however, as the Continue Reading →

New Home Building Permits In St Louis For Most Recent 12-Months Continue Downward Trend

By Dennis Norman, on May 14th, 2022

There were 4,699 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended March 31, 2022, a decrease of 6.86% from the same period a year ago when there were 5,045 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). Four of the seven counties covered in the report saw a double-digit decrease in building permits from the same period a year ago.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis New Homes For Sale St Louis New Home Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Doing Well In Spite of Rising Interest Rates & Inflation

By Dennis Norman, on May 9th, 2022

There have been a lot of reports over the past month about rising interest rates (mortgage rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit 5.27% last week) as well as rising inflation rates (8.5% in March) and the effect these things will have on the housing market. It’s no doubt they will have some affect on home prices and sales and I have been watching the data on St Louis home prices and sales closely and so far there does not appear to be much impact.

St Louis home sales increase in April from March…

There are two ways we analyze Continue Reading →

New Sales Last Week Declined Over Thirty Percent From The Week Before

By Dennis Norman, on April 29th, 2022

Last week there were 551 new contracts written for the sale of listings in the St Louis 5-county core market down over thirty-six percent (31.3%) from the week before when there were 802 new contracts written, according to the STL Real Estate Trends Report, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®. The new sales activity last week was down even more (nearly 36%) from the same week a year ago when there were 851 new contracts written on listings. There is no doubt this is the result of mortgage interest rates which have nearly doubled in the last 15 months.

New listings Continue Reading →

Sitzer vs NAR (National Association of REALTORS) – Good or bad for consumers?

By Dennis Norman, on April 28th, 2022

In an article published yesterday, I referenced the Sitzer vs National Association of REALTORS law suit and said I would have a more in-depth discussion about that suit and here it is. The lawsuit was filed by Joshua Sitzer, Amy Winger, Scott and Rhonda Burnett and Ryan Hendrickson on June 21, 2019 against the National Association of REALTORS® and the parent companies of major real estate companies and franchises including Coldwell Banker, ReMax, Keller Williams and Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices.

The Sitzer lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri sought to be certified Continue Reading →

Appellant Court Overturns Lower Court Dismissal of Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against the National Association of REALTORS®

By Dennis Norman, on April 27th, 2022

The past several days have not been good for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) from a legal perspective at least.

First, last Friday, April 22, 2022, Stephen R. Bough, a Federal Judge for in the Western District of Missouri, certified a lawsuit against NAR as a class action suit.The suit, known as the “Sitzer” suit as the original plaintiffs were Joshua Sitzer and Amy Winger, alleges that the defendant, the National Association of REALTORS® “created and implemented anticompetitive rules which require home sellers to pay commission to the broker representing the home buyer“. The plaintiffs in the suit also Continue Reading →

Missouri Releases Complaint Report For Missouri Insurance Companies

By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2022

The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) is the state agency that investigates complaints against insurance companies made by consumers in Missouri. Annually, the DCI releases its complaint report reporting on the complaints made in the preceding year by company, type of insurance, etc. In compiling the report the DCI assigns a “complaint index” to each company, based upon the number of complaints the department received for a consecutive three-year period relative to the amount of product-specific premium a Missouri licensed company experienced that same period. An index number of 100 means that the department received the normally expected Continue Reading →

New Sales Of Listings Continue To Outpace New Listings

By Dennis Norman, on April 19th, 2022

Even with the high rate of inflation, rising interest rates and general unrest in the economy, during the past two weeks there were more new contracts written on listings than there were new listings. According to the STL Real Estate Trends Report, exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®, during the last two weeks there were 1,496 new contracts accepted on listings in the St Louis 5-County core market while there were 1,432 new listings during the same period. While there were only 4.5% more sales than listings, given the fact we are already in a low-inventory market, this is fairly significant. Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Housing Market Report For March 2022

By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2022

St Louis Real Estate Report for March 2022

(click on infographic for complete report including other counties)

How Much Will St Louis Home Prices Be Impacted By Inflation?

By Dennis Norman, on April 15th, 2022

Yesterday, I wrote an article addressing the high rate of inflation just reported and its impact on the St Louis housing market. In it, I promised to take a deeper look into the effect of the current events related to the economy on St Louis home prices which I will do in this article.

Before I go further, I should mention I’m not an economist nor a fortune teller. I am, however, a real estate broker and data nerd that has spent over 40 years in the St Louis real estate industry. I try my best to use my knowledge Continue Reading →

Inflation Rate Increases to 8.5 Percent in March…What will the effect be on home prices?

By Dennis Norman, on April 14th, 2022

This week it was announced that the U.S. inflation rate in March had increased to a staggering 8.5% the highest rate in over 40 years as illustrated by the chart below. The last time the inflation rate was higher than this was in December 1981 when it hit 8.9%. The “inflation rate” that I’m referring to, and is the most commonly reported, is based upon the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): U. S. city average. One of the categories included in the CPI-U is “shelter”. The report shows the shelter inflation rate at 5% which, on the Continue Reading →

Two-Thirds Of Consumers Say They Would Buy A Home vs Rent If There Were To Move

By Dennis Norman, on April 9th, 2022

Yesterday, I shared that, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), nearly three-fourths of consumers think now is not a good time to buy a home. However, the same survey that produced that data also showed that tw0-thirds of the consumers that responded said if they would buy a home vs rent if they were in fact going to move. As our chart below illustrates, for 3 of the last four months, 66% indicated they would buy. While the percentage that indicated they would buy was as high as 72% last May, it was in fact the Continue Reading →

Nearly 75 Percent Of Consumers Think Now Is A Bad Time To Buy a Home

By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2022

Every month Fannie Mae surveys consumers about owning and renting a home as well as about other issues related to the housing market and economy and from the results publishes its Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI). One of the components of the index is what the sentiment is on whether now is a good time to buy a home or sell a home. In April 2022, HPSI consumers’ sentiment on whether now is a good time to buy a home hit an all-time low with just 24% of respondents saying now is a good time to buy a home. As Continue Reading →

Home Remodeling Projects That Bring You The Best Return On The Cost

By Dennis Norman, on April 8th, 2022

Some remodeling projects are done by homeowners that plan to stay in their homes for the foreseeable future and want to get the most enjoyment and functionality out of living there. These homeowners typically aren’t as concerned, if at all, with getting a monetary return on their investment as their return is the enjoyment of the improvements. However, other homeowners, particularly those that may only be in their homes a couple of years or so before their next move, tend to focus more on making sure the remodeling they do will bring them a return on their investment to make Continue Reading →

New Home Building Permits Decline Nearly 6 Percent In St Louis In Past 12-Months

By Dennis Norman, on April 7th, 2022

There were 4,669 building permits issued for new single-family homes in the St Louis area during the 12-month period ended February 28, 2022, a decrease of 5.8% from the same period a year ago when there were 4,956 permits issued, according to the latest data from the Home Builders Association of St. Louis & Eastern Missouri (St Louis HBA). Four of the seven counties covered in the report saw a double-digit decrease in building permits from the same period a year ago.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis New Homes For Sale St Louis New Home Continue Reading →