St Louis Real Estate News - Page 36 of 109 - Daily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals.

New Rule Will Require REALTORS Put All Listings In The MLS Or Not Market Them

By Dennis Norman, on February 21st, 2020

Over the past couple of months, I have written a couple of articles about a new policy approved by the National Association of REALTORS® in November 2019 known as the “Clear Cooperation Policy”. While I’m not sure how closely consumers are watching, or if they even care at all about the policy at this point, REALTORS® have definitely been following the policy and have been pretty vocal about their thoughts on the policy, both for and against.

Before I go on, I should disclose that I currently serve as Chairman of the Board for MARIS (Mid-America Regional Information Systems) which Continue Reading →

Housing Markets Benefit From Opportunity Zones In Some Areas Of St Louis

By Dennis Norman, on February 20th, 2020

Opportunity Zones were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that President Donald J. Trump signed into law on December 22, 2017. Opportunity zones were established to help communities that are economically-distressed and work by promoting private investment and development through the use of tax incentives. There are a total of 8.760 designated Qualified Opportunity Zones in the U.S. and there are 140 Opportunity Zones in Missouri.

Opportunity zones appear to have had a positive impact on the housing market in several opportunity zones in the St Louis area. According to data just released by ATTOM Date Solutions, Continue Reading →

Ferguson’s Housing Market Six Years Later

By Dennis Norman, on February 19th, 2020

It’s been over six years since the shooting of Michael Brown brought riots to the streets of Ferguson and national attention on the small north county municipality. The end result was quite devastating to businesses and the community as a whole and many predicted Ferguson’s demise.

One year later, I did an analysis of the impact on the housing market in an article on St Louis Real Estate News in which I revealed market data showing that while the results were somewhat mixed, the housing market in Ferguson didn’t really appear to have been too negatively impacted at the time.

Continue Reading →

Why I’m Bullish On Real Estate For 2020

By Dennis Norman, on February 14th, 2020

As you may have noticed, I’ve been pretty optimistic about the outlook for the real estate market this year however, that is not always the case as I call it like I see it. The reason for my optimism is based upon what a true data geek like myself would base it upon, data! So, what’s the data that has me believing 2020 will be a good year for the housing market in St Louis and beyond? Several things:

As I have been reporting here for the past couple of years now, mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates have continued to Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – February 2020 – Home Sales Trend Going Into 2020 Looking Good

By Dennis Norman, on February 12th, 2020

The St Louis real estate market is off to a good start for 2020! The home sales trends going into this year are encouraging and, coupled with the strong economy we are in, has me very confident that 2020 is going to be a great year for the St Louis real estate market! MORE buying power! In addition, long term mortgage interest rates just dropped again giving buyers more buying power! See the example in my video of just how much less a home will cost you today payment-wise than 14 months ago, even after appreciation has pushed prices up. Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Trend Jumps Up In December Stays Steady In January

By Dennis Norman, on February 11th, 2020

The St Louis home sales trend jumped in December when sales for the prior 12-months broke through the 27,000 mark to 27,149. The trend continued into January of this year, as there were 27,159 homes sold in the 12-month period ended January 31, 2020. This is a good start for 2020 and is a great leading indicator of how the market is going to do this year. Add lower mortgage interest rates to this (the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to 3.45% last week) and the strongest economy in decades and we have a recipe for a great housing market!

Continue Reading →

New Homes Sales In 2019 Drop From Year Before In Midwest

By Dennis Norman, on February 9th, 2020

There were 70,000 new homes sold in the Midwest Region of the United States during 2019, a decline of 7.2% from 2018 when there were 76,000 new homes sold, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

As the table below shows, there were 40,000 new homes for sale in the Mideast at the end of 2019, which translates into roughly a 7 month supply of new homes for sale.

New Homes Sold In Midwest – 2018-2019

(in thousands)

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

St Louis Underwater Homeowners Falls To Lowest Percentage In Over 6 Years

By Dennis Norman, on February 6th, 2020

During the fourth quarter of 2019, 10.2% of the homeowners in St Louis with a mortgage, were underwater on their mortgage, meaning they were in a negative-equity position, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Research. As the table below shows, this is the lowest level of St Louis homeowners that are seriously underwater since 2013 when this data was first tracked. This continues the trend that began in the price quarter with the then lowest rate at 10.5%.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis Underwater (Negative-Equity) Homeowners

Continue Reading →

Jefferson County Zip 63048 Homes Sold The Fastest In The Past 30 Days

By Dennis Norman, on February 4th, 2020

Homes that sold in the 63048 zip code in the last 30 days were on the market an average of just 30 days before selling, making this the fastest sold zip code in the St Louis MSA. The 63048 zip code area in Jefferson County includes the cities of Pevely, Festus and Herculaneum.

Five of the top ten zip codes were in St Louis County, two in Jefferson County and one in the Counties of St Charles, St Louis City and Madison, Il.

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

St Louis’ Core Market Home Sales Ends 2019 Slightly Ahead of 2018

By Dennis Norman, on February 3rd, 2020

Throughout 2019 St Louis home sales were running slightly behind the prior year and looked like that is how the year would end but, thanks to a strong finish, St Louis home sales for 2019 ended up being slightly higher than the year before. As the report below shows, the 5-county core St Louis real estate market (without distressed sales) ended 2019 with 25,946 home sales, up 0.71% from the year before when there we 25,674 homes sold. The median price of homes sold during 2019 (non-distressed) was $215,000, an increase fo 4.88% from the year before when the median Continue Reading →

St Louis Homeownership Rate For 2019 Highest In Four Years

By Dennis Norman, on January 30th, 2020

During the 4th quarter of this year, the homeownership rate for the St Louis MSA was 68.3%, a slight decline from the month before, but St Louis ended the year with an average homeownership rate of 68.1%, the highest end of year average in 4 years!

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis MSA Homeownership Rate – Past 5 Years

(Click on the table below for St Louis homeownership rates by quarter from 2005-present)

Continue Reading →

Why Accurate Home Price And Sales Data Is Vital To Buyers and Sellers

By Dennis Norman, on January 24th, 2020

I’ll concede the fact that not everyone is as much of a data geek as I am and, in fact, a more accurate statement would probably be that most people are not, including the majority of home buyers and sellers. Sure, home buyers and sellers are interested in home prices and what the potential value of the home is they are looking to buy or sell, but most leave the real data analysis to their agent. After all, part of being a professional real estate agent is knowing the market as well as knowing how to research the market and Continue Reading →

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Life Work Led To Fair Housing In America

By Dennis Norman, on January 20th, 2020

Today, as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who is best known as a leader in the Civil Rights movement, I wanted to look at how his efforts also ultimately resulted in the Fair Housing Act, which sought to end discrimination in housing.

Through the efforts of the civil rights movement, Dr. King and others were able to get the attention of our nation resulting in President John F. Kennedy, in a nationally televised address on June 6, 1963, urging the nation to ” take action toward guaranteeing equal treatment of every American regardless of race.” Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – January 2020 – The market finished 2019 strong!

By Dennis Norman, on January 17th, 2020

The St Louis real estate market had a strong finish in 2019! One of the many great things for the St Louis housing market about a strong finish in 2019 is that 2020 begins strongly as well! January will be a key month in terms of whether the trend will continue or whether December’s uptick was an isolated event. Another encouraging thing about the real estate market is that long term mortgage interest rates remain low! See in the video just how powerful this is! How a house today will actually cost you less than a little over a year Continue Reading →

In 2019 St Louis Had The 8th Highest Foreclosure Rate of The 20 Largest MSA’s

By Dennis Norman, on January 16th, 2020

Foreclosure rates and mortgage delinquency rates have steadily declined over the past couple of years as the housing market, as well as the overall economy, have both continued to improve and thrive. Nonetheless, foreclosures still take place and during 2019 the St Louis MSA had the 8th highest foreclosure rate of the 20 largest MSAs, according to the latest data released by Attom Data Solutions.

As the table below shows, during 2019, in the St Louis MSA there was 1 foreclosure action for every 232 housing units. Philadelphia, PA, had the highest foreclosure rate of the 20-largest MSAs with one Continue Reading →

St Louis Home Sales Fare Better Against Prior Year Than Condo Sales

By Dennis Norman, on January 7th, 2020

There were 3,637 condos sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market during 2019, a decline of 2.28% from 2018 when there were 3,722 condos sold. As I reported yesterday, 2019 St Louis home sales were down 1.18% in 2019, just over half of the rate of decline of condo sales.

As the STL Market Report below shows (available exclusively through MORE, REALTORS), the median price of condos sold during 2019 was $155,000, an increase of 4.15% from the year before. In contrast, home prices increased by 5.85% during the same period.

Going into 2020, the inventory of homes for Continue Reading →

St Louis Area Home Sales For 2019 Fall A Little Short of 2018

By Dennis Norman, on January 6th, 2020

There were 27,076 homes sold in the St Louis 5-County Core market during 2019, a decline of 1.18% from 2018 when there were 27,399 homes sold. As the STL Market Report below shows (available exclusively through MORE, REALTORS), the median price of homes sold during 2019 was $208,000, an increase of 5.85% from the year before.

Going into 2020, the inventory of homes for sale remains low and favors sellers. Currently, the supply of homes for sale is just over 2 months.

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

Happy New Year!

By Dennis Norman, on January 1st, 2020

The outlook for the St Louis real estate market for the new year looks pretty good. Watch for the release of our St Louis Housing Market Forecast for 2020 coming out in the next few days to get some insight into this year’s real estate market here in St Louis.

Happy New Year!

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

FHA Loan Limits For St Louis MSA Increase to $331,760 January 1st

By Dennis Norman, on December 28th, 2019

The maximum loan amount for an FHA-Insured home loan on January 1, 2020, will increase from $314.827 to $331,760 for a single-family home purchased in the St Louis metro area. FHA insured home loans have lower credit standards than a typical conventional loan, require a downpayment of just 3.5% and allow all of the purchasers closing costs to be paid by the seller (up to a limit) thereby extending the opportunity of homeownership to a wider audience.

Below are all of the FHA Mortgage Limits for the St Louis MSA for 2020:

One-Family dwellings – $331,760 Two-Family dwellings – $424,800 Continue Reading →

No Cap On No Money Down VA Loan After January 1st

By Dennis Norman, on December 28th, 2019

Buying a home for veterans will get a little easier come January 1, 2020, especially those veterans moving up to a more expensive home, as a result of the Blue Water Navy Veterans Act of 2019 signed into law by President Trump in June 2019. The primary focus of the Act was to provide disability benefits to veterans who served in Vietnam, it also made significant changes to the VA Home Loan benefit available to all veterans. The VA home loan changes go into effect on January 1, 2020. Below are highlights of the changes to the VA home loan Continue Reading →

Top Ten Zip Codes Where Homes Sold The Fastest In St Louis During Past 30-Days

By Dennis Norman, on December 27th, 2019

Homes in the Lincoln County zip code of 63362 sold the fastest in the past 30-days with an average time to sell of just 40 days, according to the latest data available from MORE, REALTORS®.

As the list below shows, 4 of the remaining 10 fastest-sold zips in the St Louis MSA were in St Charles County, 3 in St Louis County, 1 in Franklin County and 1 in St Clair County, IL.

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES Fastest SOLD Zip Codes In The St Louis MSA In Past 30 Days Continue Reading →

Home Sales Trend In St Louis 5-County Core Market Falls To Lowest Level In Over 3 Years

By Dennis Norman, on December 26th, 2019

After peaking in May 2018 with 27,829 homes sold in the prior 12-months, the St Louis home sales trend has trended downward to 26,830 homes sold in the 12-month period ended November 30, 2019. This marks the lowest home sales trend for the St Louis 5-County core market in over three years.

In spite of this statistical fact, it should be noted that the difference in home sales for the 12-month period ended November 30, 2019, from the same period a year ago, is just under 3%, so it is a pretty modest decline.

Search St Louis Homes For Continue Reading →

Merry Christmas!

By Dennis Norman, on December 25th, 2019

Wishing you and your family and loved ones a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

“And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6-7

St Charles County Home Sales Trend On Rise For 2nd Consecutive Month

By Dennis Norman, on December 24th, 2019

The home sales trend was, as our chart below illustrates, on the decline in St Charles County since summer last year but then, in October reversed course. Now, for the second-consecutive month, the St Charles County home sales trend is on the rise possibly confirming that September 2019 was the bottom, with 5,761 homes sold in the 12-month period ending in September. For the 12-month period ended November 30, 2019, there were 5,814 homes sold or just under 1% more than when sales hit the bottom in September. The period ended in November saw just 23 more homes sold then Continue Reading →

Should You Keep Your Home On The Market Over Christmas?

By Dennis Norman, on December 22nd, 2019

Most home buyers and sellers understand the seasonality of the residential real estate market with spring being the “hot” market and winter being a slow one. This often leads to many sellers with homes that have not sold, opting to take them off the market until after the holidays with the plan to come back when the market gets better. Is this a good plan though? As a seller are you missing out on selling your home by taking your home off the market at a time when there is so little competition and at a time that the buyers Continue Reading →

The Foreclosure Rate in the St Louis Metro Area Falls Again In November

By Dennis Norman, on December 16th, 2019

The foreclosure rate for the St Louis MSA during October decreased 6.0 percent from the month and was down 4.2% from November 2018, according to data just released from ATTOM Data Solutions. As the table below shows, there were, like last month, some mixed results. For example, St Charles County saw a 20% increase in foreclosures from the month before while the City of St Louis saw a 27% decrease from the month before. The U.S. as a whole saw a bigger decline in foreclosure activity than the St Louis MSA did.

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St Louis MSA Foreclosures – Continue Reading →

St Louis House Flips Continue To Decline

By Dennis Norman, on December 12th, 2019

There were 762 homes “flipped” in the St Louis metro area during the third quarter of 2019, or 6.3% of the total number of homes sold in the St Louis metro area during the quarter, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Solutions. This is a decline of 15% from the prior quarter as well as a 5% decrease from the prior year. As our table below shows, on a national level, house flipping accounted for just 5.4% of the homes sold during the 3rd quarter of this year, which is a 9% decrease from the quarter before and Continue Reading →

St Charles County Home Sales Trend On The Rise After Hitting Bottom in September

By Dennis Norman, on December 11th, 2019

The home sales trend in St Charles County peaked in April 2017 with 6,118 homes sold in the 12-month period ended April 30, 2017. Since then, the home sales trend fell to closer to the 6,000 home mark until hitting a near peak again in August 2018 with 6,111 homes sold in the 12 month period ending that month. After that, the home sales trend in St Charles County has fairly consistently trended downward until hitting bottom in September with 5,759 homes sold in the 12-month period ended September 30, 2019, nearly a 6% fall in home sales from the Continue Reading →

Mortgage Delinquency Rate Hits Lowest Level 20 Years

By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2019

The good news just keeps coming for the residential real estate industry! The most recent is from a report just released by CoreLogic showing the mortgage delinquency rate in the U.S. was at 3.8%, the lowest rate in at least 20 years! In addition, not one state in the country had an increase in overall delinquency rates in September.

Foreclosure Inventory Reaches Low as well…

The foreclosure inventory rate for September was 0.4%, another 20+ year low!

Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES

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Continue Reading →

St Louis Real Estate Market Update VIDEO – December 2019 – No Better Time To Buy!

By Dennis Norman, on December 9th, 2019

Between low, low-interest rates and the seasonally low home prices, there is no better time to buy a home! Just like every year, home prices are declining and will continue to decline over the next few weeks until they hit their “winter bottom” and then start the climb back to spring prices. All the while, mortgage interest rates remain low, giving you more buying power than a year ago, even at the higher home prices! Find out more, as well as get information on some of St Louis’s best resources for home buyers and sellers in our just-released market update Continue Reading →