Dennis Norman
According to a report issued this morning by the the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) St. Louis area home prices increased by 1.32 percent in 2009. Granted that’s not much but, hey, after what we’ve seen the last couple of years in the housing market I think this is very good news.
This information comes for the FHFA’s purchase-only price index which is based upon repeat sales of the same single-family properties therefore making it a much more accurate barometer of the market than just looking at median prices of homes sold as many reports do. In addition, since FHFA obtains the sales data from mortgage records of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which form the nation’s largest database of conventional mortgage transactions (more than 5 million repeat transactions) which represents probably the most comprehensive sampling of data available.
One thing to remember though, is Fannie Mae loan limits are $417,000, so the data compiled does not reflect what is happening in the upper end of the market with loans in excess of $417,000 however here in St. Louis that makes up a very small part of the market . In 2009 there were 23,565 homes and condos sold in the St. Louis metro area and only 808 of them (3.4 percent) sold for $500,000 or above.
Other highlights from the report:
- St. Louis ranked 8th of the 25 largest metro areas in terms of price appreciation for 1 year. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria topped the list at 10.55 percent. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL was at the bottom of the list iwth -12.86 percent
- For the 4th quarter of 2009 St. Louis home prices increased 0.83 percent.
- St. Louis home prices have appreciated 3.91 percent in the past 5 years, coming in 7th of the 25 largest metros. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX came in 1st at 21.63 percent and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA came in last at -37.18 percent.
- Since 1991 St. Louis home prices have increased 99.17 percent, coming in at 14th place of the 25 largest metros. Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO had the highest appreciation in that period at 177.80 percent and Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, MI came in last at 30.99 percent.
So there you go….some good news from me for a change. :)
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