By Dennis Norman, on August 4th, 2018 In a neighborhood housing market report card just released by ATTOM Data Solutions, 10,950 neighborhoods across the nation were given a grade ranging from an A to an F. The neighborhood grades were based upon six factors related to the housing market: housing affordability, home price appreciation, public school scores, crime rates, unemployment rates and property taxes.
In all, 82 neighborhoods in the St Louis metro area received a grade with 28 of them receiving an A, 17 a B, 13 a C, 8 a D and 16 received an F. The list below shows the top 10 St Louis Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 4th, 2018 If you are in the market for a luxury home in St Louis, you have the opportunity to view some of St Louis’ most expensive homes this weekend. Tomorrow, there will be more than a dozen open houses on luxury homes in St Louis priced at $1,000,000 and above. The luxury home open houses extend from the Central West End to Town & Country, with a concentration around the I-40 corridor.
The map below is a live, interactive map showing all the open houses (you can click on one for details). For a handy Open House report, which you can Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 3rd, 2018 During the month of July, the homes that sold in Maplewood, Missouri took a median time of just 5 days to sell making Maplewood the fastest SOLD city in the St Louis MSA for July 2018! For July, the two fastest selling cities in St Louis took less time to sell than the number 1 city on June’s list (Columbia, IL at 9 days).
Considering the sales that closed in June were from contracts executed during the spring market, we would expect the time to sell to be low, but the time to sell for July’s closings didn’t slip Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 31st, 2018 This morning I watched a video from a firm that reports on the real industry and does so from a blunt, “call it as they see it”, perspective (pretty much my style too) in which they say “market correction indicators continue to roll in” and suggest that, to some extent, the party is over. This report looked at the national real estate market as a whole and specifically looked at the west coast so is not necessarily indicative of what is happening in the St Louis real estate market, however, can often be an early indicator.
As a result, I Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 28th, 2018 On a national level, there have been reports lately of slowing home sales evidenced by both new home sales and existing home sales falling in June, housing affordability issues and the like. Here in St Louis, the real estate market continues to perform well, however, indicators are showing a slight downward trend in St Louis home sales.
As the chart below illustrates, there have been 14,268 homes sold through the end of June in the St Louis metro area, a decline of 4.4% from the same period a year ago when there were 14,925 homes sold in St Louis. The Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 27th, 2018 In the Midwest region of the U.S., the homeownership rate rose to 68.3% during the 2nd quarter of this year from 67.9% in the first quarter, according to a report just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The homeownership rate of 68.3% in the Midwest region is higher than the homeownership rate for the U.S. as a whole, which came in at 64.3% during the 2nd quarter, and is the highest of any region. The South region has the 2nd highest homeownership rate at 65.9% and the West region the lowest at 59.7%, according to the report.
So much for Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 26th, 2018 New homes sold in the Midwest region of the U.S. in June were at a seasonally-adjusted, annual rate of 71,000 homes, according to a report just released by the U.S. Department of Commerce and United States Census Bureau. June’s new home sales activity in the Midwest represents a 13.4% decline from May when new homes in the Midwest sold at an annual rate of 82,000 homes but is a 7.6% increase from June 2017 when the annual rate was 66,000 homes. Last year the rate of new home sales in this region increased every month after June up until December Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 25th, 2018 St Louis’s most expensive homes currently for sale: St Louis’s most expensive homes sold during past 3 years:
By Dennis Norman, on July 25th, 2018 Generally, when we think of inequality, such as income inequality, we perceive it as a bad thing however, when it comes to home prices, perhaps inequality is a good thing! A recent study of home price inequality by Lending Tree resulted in St Louis being ranked as the 4th highest metro area in the nation for home price inequailty. How Lending Tree ranked the cities was by using the GINI coefficient which is often used to measure income inequality. The way it works, in a nutshell, is a GINI Coefficient of 0 means everything is equal, so everything is at Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 23rd, 2018 The millennial generation, people born from 1981 through 1994, is predicted to outnumber the baby boomer generation sometime in 2019. Given the size of the generation, as well as the fact many are getting married and starting families, the real estate industry is very interested in these young people. Much time is spent trying to figure out whether they want to buy or rent, whether they will consider the suburbs or just stick to urban areas, etc.
Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that more than a third of the residents in the city of St Louis are Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 21st, 2018 According to a recent report published by the Cato Institute, the state of Missouri ranks 9th in the nation for having the most restrictive zoning regulations. Many anti-development folks may applaud this fact and look at it as a victory. However, many people in the real estate industry, including yours truly, believe that overly restrictive zoning regulations greatly impact the cost of new home construction resulting in increased home prices and less affordable housing. Couple the increased costs along with the reduced density permitted by overly restrictive zoning and you have a real impediment to the development of affordable or Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 19th, 2018 Today, Freddie Mac, through their Primary Mortgage Market Survey® revealed that for the current average interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is at 4.52%. which is just a slight decline from a week ago when the rate was 4.53% and the same as the week before that. After 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit 4.66%, the highest rate in 7-years, back in late May, they have been trending downward a little, which is good news for the real estate market!
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average – 2000 – Present
(Click on Chart for LIVE chart with current data)
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 17th, 2018 The St Louis real estate market continues to be an enjoyable one for sellers who benefit from the low inventory of homes for sale and somewhat of a challenge for home buyers who face stiff competition. The lack of inventory of available listings has contributed to St Louis home sales this year falling a little behind last years home sales. 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 [xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video–Inline-Link”] update video. [xyz-ips snippet=”Market-Update-Video-Package”] [xyz-ips snippet=”Seller-Resources—Listing-Targeted”]
By Dennis Norman, on July 11th, 2018 It took an average of just 9 days for homes to sell in Columbia, Illinois last month, making Columbia the fastest selling city in the St Louis MSA during June. Waterloo was the other Illinois city that made the list (#4) with the remaining 8 cities being in Missouri. Of the eight cities in Missouri on the list, 7 are in St Louis County and 1 in St Charles County.
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Search St Louis Homes For Sale Search St Louis Upcoming OPEN HOUSES St Louis MSA Top 10 Fastest SOLD Cities In June 2018
(click on Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 10th, 2018 Home sales in St Louis declined a little over 2 percent during the most recent 12-month period from the prior period while the median price of homes sold in St Louis rose 4.4%, according to the latest data from MORE, REALTORS.
St Louis home sales are trending downward slightly as well, as illustrated by the chart below. The light green line depicts year to date home sales for the St Louis 5-county core market (city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin) and reveals that through June of this year, there have been 13,237 Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 5th, 2018 Nearly 80 percent (78.8%) of the homeowners with a mortgage in St Charles County spend less than 30% of their household income for gross monthly housing costs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest data. As the table below shows, the 4-largest St Louis area counties are all within the green (good) level for housing affordability in all categories: Homeowners with a mortgage, homeowners without a mortgage and renters.
Of the three categories, St Louis renters have the worst housing affordability threshold with a median of 46.3% of St Louis renters spending more then 30% of their household income on Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 4th, 2018 Today, the Fourth of July is the day we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence which took place 242 years ago on July 4, 1776. With the signing of this Declaration, the 13 colonies, or united States, declared their independence from Great Britain and thus, the United States was born!
While I don’t recall the specific number of times I have read this document, I can say with reasonable certainty that I doubt the number would take more than one hand to count. It’s pretty amazing that such an important document while referred to often, and celebrated Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on July 1st, 2018 One of the “buzz words” you hear often in the real estate industry today is “disrupter“. To disrupt, by definition, is to “throw into turmoil or disorder, interrupt the progress of (a movement, meeting, etc) or break or split (something) apart.” With dozens and dozens of new startups, new business models and new practices coming upon the real estate scene over the last handful of years, it seems practically everyone wants to disrupt the real estate industry. Why not? Afterall, there was some $70 Billion (yes, Billion with a “B”) in commissions made by residential real estate agents last year Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 29th, 2018 The St Louis real estate market continues to be a strong one and continues to favor sellers in many cases. As the chart below illustrates, the median price per foot that homes sold for in May (green line) shot up in May to $133 from $129 the month before, a 3.1% increase from the month before and an increase of 6.4% from May 2017 when the price per foot was $125. This increase in home prices didn’t seem to affect St Louis home sales, however, as there were 2,922 homes sold in May, an increase of 24.3% from the month Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 25th, 2018 Homes have sold in the St Louis area at an increasing rate for a little more than 3 years now, however, as the chart below illustrates, the trend is flattening. The chart below, which was created from software our firm developed which compiles data from the MLS, plots homes sales for the past 12 months for each month. So, rather than just seeing the activity for one month and all the seasonal fluctuation, you can actually see the sales trend.
Since March 2015, the 12-month home sales trend has steadily increased at a fairly steady pace however, it appears we Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 21st, 2018 The St Louis 5-county core had a total population of 2,027,996 in 2017, up from 2,000,405 in 2010. The population increase os 27,591 represents a very modest population increase of just 1.36% for the 7-year period, according to the latest date from the U.S. Census Bureau. As the table below shows, the number of Asian people in St Louis grew by 11,913 during the period, an amount equal to 43% of the total St Louis population growth.
The St Louis 5-county core consists of the city of St Louis and the counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 20th, 2018 Anyone in the market to buy a home in St Louis has probably already discovered the good listings are selling quickly and often with multiple offers. While this is not true in all areas and prices ranges, it is certainly true in many. So where are homes selling the fastest in St Louis? Well, the answer has been kind of a moving target, largely impacted by the low inventory of homes for sale, but, as of today, as the table below shows, Wright City is the answer with homes taking an average of only 6 days to sell last month.
Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 19th, 2018 Something that has become fairly common today in the St Louis real estate market are “MLS exempt” (or “non-MLS”) listings. Also known in the industry as “Pocket Listings“, this refers to a home that is listed with an agent but is not entered into the MLS. When I first enteered the real estate business, back in 1979, these type of listings were known as “Vest Pocket LIstings” with the reason being the agent would instead of turning the listing agreement into his or her office, making everyone aware of it, would keep the listing in their vest pocket so they Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 15th, 2018 Mortgage interest rates have been on the rise and hit their highest level in seven years toward the end of May, however, the higher rates don’t appear to be having an effect on the number of people in St Louis obtaining home loans yet. The table below is based upon the latest data from ATTOM Data Research, just released yesterday, and shows that there were 6,830 home purchase mortgage loans obtained in the St Louis metro area during the 1st quarter of this year. This represents an increase of nearly 10% from the number of home purchase mortgage loans that Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 10th, 2018 There is a lot of activity in the St Louis real estate market! The inventory of homes for sale in St Louis remains low, interest rates have dropped a little over the past couple of weeks, home prices are beginning to soften as we move beyond the peak spring market and demand is still strong.
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By Dennis Norman, on June 8th, 2018 One of the things that often attract homebuyers to a new or expanding area is the availability of new homes at affordable prices. This is something that is hard to find in older areas that have mature real estate markets due to the lack of available ground and the cost of the ground when it does become available. This is, no doubt, one of the things that have been responsible for the population growth in Wentzville in spite of the fact it is in the farthest west most area of St Charles County. As a result, the city of Wentzville Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 7th, 2018 During the first quarter of this year, there were 600 home “flips” in St Louis or about 8.6% of the homes sold in St Louis, according to data just released by ATTOM Data Research. This rate of flipped homes is up 5% from the prior quarter, however, is down 7% from a year ago. The decline certainly doesn’t have anything to do with a lack of interest by investors in flipping, it has more to do with a low inventory and declining mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates reducing the opportunities.
What is a “flipped” home?
In the report issued by Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 6th, 2018 The five counties I refer to as the “St Louis Core Market“, which include the city of St Louis and counties of St Louis, St Charles, Jefferson and Franklin, account for over 90% of the home sales in the 9 Missouri Counties that are part of the St Louis MSA. This is why I typically focus on those five counties when reporting real estate market stats as they give the “big picture” view of the St Louis market but in a more accurate way than the St Louis MSA stats.
The counties making up the St Louis core market vary Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 4th, 2018 When you make an offer on a home, it is normal to include a deadline for the seller to accept the offer by otherwise the offer dies. Deadlines are also used when sellers and buyers make counter-offers and negotiate building inspection resolutions. These deadlines typically include both a date and time. Unfortunately, many real estate agents seem to like using “12 p.m.” as a deadline which, personally, I think is a bad idea and should not be done.
Why is 12 p.m. as a deadline bad to use?
For starters, I’m a big fan of trying to keep things as Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on June 1st, 2018 As the table below shows, for the most recent 12-months that new home building permit data is available for from the Home Builders Association of St Louis & Eastern Missouri, there have been 4,610 new home building permits issued in the 7 counties they report on. This is just slightly less than was issued for the prior 12-month period ending April 2017, when there were 4,625 permits issued.
St Charles County New Home Building Permit Trend Continues to Fall…
There were 1,555 new home permits issued in St Charles County in the most recent 12-month period, a decline of 18.54% Continue Reading →
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