St Louis Real Estate News - Page 80 of 109 - Daily St. Louis real estate news, market analysis, home prices, and mortgage rate updates from local industry professionals.

Quarterly National Housing Survey Shows that Americans of All Backgrounds Continue to Have Strong Aspirations to Own a Home

By News Desk, on April 2nd, 2012

Attitudes About Homeownership as an Investment, Financial Constraints, and Mortgage Accessibility May Stand in the Way of Americans’ Purchase Decisions

Fannie Mae’s latest quarterly National Housing Survey focuses on the state of homeownership aspirations among Americans across all demographic groups. The survey finds that despite the recent housing crisis, most Americans continue to believe that owning their home is preferable to renting it. The data also indicate that while financial constraints and employment concerns may may be keeping potential homebuyers on the sidelines in the near term, future improvements in employment and personal finances, a pickup in interest rates Continue Reading →

Vacation home sales hit four-year high

By Dennis Norman, on March 30th, 2012

According to a report just released by Homeaway, sales of vacation homes in 2011 reached a four-year high, fueled by the lowest median sales price in eight years, cheap mortgage rates, and the desire for a family retreat. The research found 33 percent of vacation home buyers purchased a vacation property last year primarily because of low real estate prices, while another 30 percent cited the desire for a family retreat. According to data from a National Association of REALTORS survey, the median sales prices for vacation properties at $121,300, putting ownership within greater reach of more consumers. Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures and Mortgage Delinquencies show no change from a year ago

By Dennis Norman, on March 29th, 2012

The St Louis foreclosure rate was 1.7 percent for February 2012, the same rate as a year before according to newly released data from CoreLogic. As usual, the St Louis foreclosure rate is significantly lower than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.4 percent in February 2012. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; Do I need to sell my home to buy another?

By Robert Fishel, on March 28th, 2012

Do I Have To Sell? No you do not have to sell if you are in a financial position where you qualify, i.e. Debt-to-Income Ratio is satisfactory and on paper you can afford both your current residence and the proposed payment on the new home. However, the borrower in this case must give consideration to other or additional expenses when maintaining multiple properties…increased property taxes, insurance costs, maintenance, un-expected repairs when making that decision. Continue Reading →

Case-Shiller report says 2012 home prices off to rocky start

By Dennis Norman, on March 27th, 2012

This morning, the S&P/Case-Shiller Index report for January was released which showed both the 10-city and 20-city composites, after both hitting record low levels in December, fell further in January. The 10-city and 20-city composites saw annual price decline of 3.9 percent and 3.8 percent respectively and both saw price declines of 0.8 percent in January from December. Continue Reading →

Home sales in Midwest up 6.5 percent in February while down in all other regions

By Dennis Norman, on March 26th, 2012

The National Association of REALTORS released it’s Pending Home Sales Index for February today showing home sales in the Midwest increased 6.5 percent from the month before and were up 19.0 percent from a year ago. This is in sharp contrast to home sales on a national level which saw a slight decrease of 0.5 percent in the index from the month before (seasonally adjusted), and an 9.2 percent increase from a year ago. Continue Reading →

New home sales slip in February; still up double digits from a year ago though

By Dennis Norman, on March 23rd, 2012

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Census Bureau released new home sales data for February 2012 showing a decrease of 1.6 percent from the month before, and an increase of 11.4 percent from a year ago. The seasonally-adjusted new home sales rate for February was 313,000 homes, down from an adjusted rate of 318,000 homes the month before. This is the second consecutive month new home sales have declined. Continue Reading →

Home sales slip slightly in February but up almost 9 percent from a year ago; home prices increase slightly

By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2012

Today’s existing home sales report from the National Association of REALTORS® shows existing home sales in February were at at a seasonally adjusted-annual rate of 4.59 million units which is a decrease of 0.8 percent from the month before and an increase of 8.8 percent from a year ago. The actual number of homes sold in February was 286,000 which is an increase of 10.0 percent from the month before and an increase of 13.0 percent from a year ago when there were 253,000 homes sold. Continue Reading →

Mortgage delinquencies continue to decline; good news for the real estate market!

By Dennis Norman, on March 22nd, 2012

The U.S. mortgage loan delinquency rate was 7.57 percent of all home loans in February, down 5.0 percent from the month before and down 14.0 percent from a year ago, according to the “First-Look” report issued by Lender Processing Services, one of the countries largest loan servicers and aggregators of loan performance data. The foreclosure presale inventory rate was 4.13 percent in February, a 0.5 percent decrease from the month before and a 0.3 percent decrease from a year ago Continue Reading →

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; "You’ll never buy at the bottom" Interest rates are on the rise

By Robert Fishel, on March 21st, 2012

Mortgage rates have been rising nonstop since the end of last week. If you are considering a refinance or taking the plunge and buying a new home, you’d better get moving. I just had a prospect shop rates and terms for his new home over the last couple of weeks and just called back; he finally decided on a lender and wanted an updated rate quote to lock his loan. Needless to say, he was terribly disappointed…the rates we originally spoke about on a 30 year fixed rate a couple of weeks ago was in the high 3’s, my quote yesterday was 4.25% (4.45% APR ). Continue Reading →

Report shows For Every Two Homes Available for Sale, There Is One in the "Shadow"

By Dennis Norman, on March 21st, 2012

st-louis-realtor-dennis-norman-shadow-inventory-corelogicA report released this morning by CoreLogic shows that the current residential “shadow” inventory as of January 2012 was 1.6 million units, equivalent to a 6-months’ supply, and approximately the same level last reported in October 2011. The shadow inventory is down from a year ago though, when it was at 1.8 million units, or an 8-months’ supply. Currently, the flow of new seriously delinquent (90 days or more) loans into the shadow inventory has been offset by the roughly equal flow of distressed sales (short and real estate owned), according to the report. “Almost half of the shadow inventory is not yet in the foreclosure process,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “Shadow inventory also remains concentrated in states impacted by sharp price declines and states with long foreclosure timelines.” Continue Reading →

New home construction on the increase

By Dennis Norman, on March 20th, 2012

The U.S. Census Bureau and US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued their report on New Residential Construction for February 2012 showing an increase in single-family home building permits from the month before of 4.9 percent and a 9.9 percent decrease in new home starts compared to the month before. Continue Reading →

Report Says Realtors’ Existing Home Supply Understated by "Millions of Homes"

By Dennis Norman, on March 19th, 2012

A report just released by RadarLogic states the obvious by saying “housing is a buyer’s market” which, I think by now, we all know. However the report goes on to dig into the driving forces behind this buyer’s market and makes some interesting (and concerning) observations including the fact that, while the National Association of REALTOR’s reported that the inventory of homes for sale in January dropped to 2.31 million homes (a 6.1 month supply and the lowest level since 2006) this does not take into account vacant homes that have been held off the market, homes that have delinquent mortgages on them and are headed to foreclosure or in the foreclosure process, nor homes with underwater mortgages. This is a large pool of homes that while they are not “on the market” now, a large percentage of them likely will be in the coming months and years thereby increasing the inventory of homes for sale. Continue Reading →

St Louis makes list of 100 best places to invest in rental property

By Dennis Norman, on March 16th, 2012

St Louis made the list of the “Best 100 U.S. Markets to Invest in Rental Property“, developed by HomeVestors and Local Market Monitor, coming in right in the middle at number 50. Las Vegas was in the number 1 slot and California was the star of the show with 12 metros on the list

“There are good opportunities for investors in every one of the top 100 markets,” said HomeVestors’ co-president, David Hicks. “But investors would be wise to take into account other dynamics for the ideal timing to enter the market.” Hicks sites job growth as a key indicator Continue Reading →

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; The Significance to Credit Scores

By Robert Fishel, on March 16th, 2012

WHAT IS A CREDIT SCORE?

Simply stated, credit scores are a statistically-based tool to assess the future performance of a borrower. Scores are derived from the history of a borrower as it is reported to the credit repositories from any creditor. Credit scores are a proven indicator of the likelihood to repay a loan or credit obligation. The lower the score; the more risk from a borrower to repay a loan, on time and in full. Scores range from 400 to 850. This process was started by Fair, Isaac and Co., which is why credit scores are also called Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures Increase in February by 20 Percent From January

By Dennis Norman, on March 15th, 2012

St. Louis foreclosure activity in February 2012 increased 20.54 percent from the month before and was up 17.58 percent from year before, according to RealtyTrac’s foreclosure market report that was just released. Continue Reading →

Ninety-six percent of American’s think now is a good time to buy a house according to survey

By Dennis Norman, on March 14th, 2012

According to a national survey released today by Prudential Real Estate, Americans are significantly more optimistic about homeownership than they were a year ago. According to the survey, 60 percent of Americans have favorable views toward the real estate market. That’s up from 52 percent last year. The survey shows other signs of increased consumer optimism as well: Continue Reading →

St Louis rents on the rise while home prices on the decline

By Dennis Norman, on March 13th, 2012

A report released today by Zillow shows that median rents rose 6.1 percent in St Louis to $1,085 from January 2011 to January 2012 while, during the same period, home prices fell 6.9 percent to $120,300. According to the report, over two-thirds (69.2 percent) of the metro areas covered saw year-over-year gains in rents but only 7.3 percent of the metros saw home values rise during the same period. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Real Estate Market and Home Prices Update; March 2012

By Dennis Norman, on March 12th, 2012

Below is a video update on the St. Louis Real Estate Market that I prepare monthly. In this video I do a quick recap of the news in the St Louis real estate market for the month as well as an overview of the St Louis housing market itself. The update includes charts with up to the date data on the St Louis housing market including St Louis home prices, average time to sell a home in the St Louis area as well as other data and charts to show where the St Louis real estate market is and where it is headed. (Check out all our market update videos on our YouTube Channel – click here. Continue Reading →

Bank of America, J.P. MOrgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial reach $25 Billion Agreement with Fed & State Government over Foreclosure Abuses

By News Desk, on March 12th, 2012

The Justice Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general announced today the filing of their landmark $25 billion agreement with the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. Continue Reading →

Home buyers more motivated by updated kitchens than media rooms

By Dennis Norman, on March 9th, 2012

A survey conducted by Coldwell Banker of it’s real estate agents across North America revealed that home buyers are motivated by lifestyle needs and are more willing to buy homes with updated kitchens and open floor plans than homes with “trendy” media rooms. Continue Reading →

Report shows optimism for real estate market; home prices up in one of every 4 markets

By Dennis Norman, on March 8th, 2012

Today, CoreLogic, a leading provider of real estate market information, released its March CoreLogic MarketPulse report which had a fairly optimistic outlook on the market including the fact that today 25 percent of all markets are experiencing increases in home prices which is in stark contrast to the height of the housing bust when 96 percent of all markets saw home prices fall. Continue Reading →

You Too Can Save $47,000 on your mortgage

By Robert Fishel, on March 7th, 2012

What would it take for you to save $47,000 over the next 20 years or even as much as $72,000 over the next 15 years? Many people think that’s an impossible task. It is very possible and quite simple actually – the answer is in your mortgage.

Consider this scenario:

You have paid 4 years on a 30-year mortgage. Your original loan amount was

Continue Reading →

Home prices decline in January; sixth consecutive month of decline

By Dennis Norman, on March 7th, 2012

A report released this morning by CoreLogic, one of the nations leading providers of property information shows that home prices in the U.S. fell in January 3.1 percent from the year before and declined by 1.0 percent from the month before marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline in home prices. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.9 percent in January 2012 compared to January 2011 and month-over-month home prices increased 0.7 percent in January. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions. Continue Reading →

St Louis ranked 15th worst performing metro market in U.S.

By Dennis Norman, on March 6th, 2012

Ugh, not the list we want to be on! Clear Capital just released it’s monthly Home Data Index™ (HDI) for March, which includes a list of the 15 best performing real estate markets in the U.S. as well as the 15 worst performing markets in the U.S and, unfortunately, St Louis is on the worst performing list…albeit barely. Continue Reading →

Is the New Home Affordable Refinance Program Hype or Help?

By Peter Wright, on March 5th, 2012

There are approximately 11-Million homeowners that are underwater, which represents about 23% of all outstanding mortgages. So, here comes another program to help the America Homeowner! Is it hype…or will it help?

Well, the new HARP program (Home Affordable Refinance Program) was released in

Continue Reading →

Helpful Spring Maintenance Tips for Homeowners

By Gerry Loesch, on March 5th, 2012

Spring Maintenance It is that time of year again. Here are a few things to remember:

Clean debris from the gutters and downspouts. Re-establish good slope and secure anygutters that may have sagged from ice and snow. Caulk any joints that leak. The maincause of moisture in basements is poor drainage (e.g. gutter, downspout and surface water). Continue Reading →

Underwater St Louis homeowners on the rise

By Dennis Norman, on March 2nd, 2012

A report just released by CoreLogic shows that, at the end of fourth quarter 2011, there were 107,183 underwater St. Louis homeowners, or, to put it another way, St Louis homeowners with negative equity accounted for 18.8 percent of all St Louis homeowners with a mortgage. This is up from 17.1 percent at the end of the third quarter of 2011. In addition, 6.1 percent, or 34,639 St Louis homeowners, were in near negative equity for fourth quarter 2011 compared to 5.9 percent, or 33,694, in third quarter 2011. Continue Reading →

St Louis Foreclosures in 2011 Remain Flat; Sold for about half of non-distressed sales

By Dennis Norman, on March 1st, 2012

St. Louis foreclosure sales in 2011 numbered 7.894, about the same as the year before, according to a report released this morning from RealtyTrac. The 2011 St Louis Foreclosure sales were down almost 20 percent from 2009 and accounted for about 17 percent of all home sales in 2011. Continue Reading →

St. Louis Mortgage Rate Update; Mortgage Insurance Premiums Increase for FHA Loans

By Robert Fishel, on February 29th, 2012

Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante recently announced a new premium structure for FHA-insured single family mortgage loans. FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) by 0.10 percent . Upfront premiums (UFMIP) will also increase by 0.75 percent. Continue Reading →